Tenuta di Fessina Erse Bianco 2019

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

The Etna wine region is a truly magical place. Located on the slopes of Europe’s largest active volcano, it presents a fascinating and challenging environment to grow and make wine. Its past as a wine producing region is imbued with important history and customs. However, as Etna enters a new era of fine winemaking, it brims with potential for innovation.

Tenuta di Fessina treads the fine line between innovation and tradition superbly. Founded by Silvia Maestrelli, one of the first female winemakers on the volcano, Tenuta di Fessina not only explores the potential of Etna’s terroir, but also the region’s unique ecosystem and biodiversity. The estate’s approach to winegrowing is established on respect for this environment, producing wines in a modern style while still capturing Etna’s unique sense of place and winemaking heritage.

This just scratches the surface of what makes Tenuta di Fessina such a fascinating winemaking project. To go deeper, watch the video below and take a virtual tour of this amazing part of the world.

About Tenuta Fessina

Silvia Maestrelli has created a winery with a focus on producing the native varieties in their natural habitat, Nerello and Nero d’Avola for the reds, and Carricante for the superb Etna Bianco, these wines are crafted by the land not the maker

Founded in 2007 by winemaker Silvia Maestrelli, her husband, Roberto Silva, and winemaker Federico Curtaz, the Fessina Estate is located in the small village of Rovittello, about eight miles east of Randazzo. Given its distinct location, the terroir of the vineyards is composed of centuries-old lava deposits that yield strikingly individual wines in a class by themselves. In addition to the main estate, the winery includes two additional vineyards — a tribute to Sicily’s incredibly fertile, boun-tiful landscape. Tenuta di Fessina is a testament to the beauty and splendor of its surroundings: the magnificence of the region is reflected in the wines.

In the Vineyard

The estate is located in the small village of Rovittello and was carefully chosen for its position enclosed in an amphitheater of two different lava flows from 1809 and 1911. Covering 7 hectares, the estate was purchased from 10 different farmers to keep the vineyards together and to benefit from greater genetic variation in the vines. With respect for the viticulture traditions of the place, the vineyards are still organically maintained and worked by hand – that’s a whopping 1000+ hours of labour each year.

Still on their original rootstock, most of the vines are 70+ years old. Their are traditionally trained as bush vines around a single chestnut stake.

The vineyards used in the Erse Bianco are located in Biancavilla and Milo. Each site is well established with vines aged around 70 and 90 years old respectively. Biancavilla sits at 900 metres above sea level and enjoys a southerly exposition; Milo faces to the east and lies approximately 950 metres in altitude.

Biancavilla, Contrada Manzudda
The Biancavilla area at 900msl is characterized by areas composed of small volcanoes and craters from remote eras, these led to the formation of limestone caves and a terroir composed mainly of clayey particles, lapilli leftovers, sand and volcanic ash. There are small fractions of potassium, basaltic lavas and ancient tuffs. The thermic excursion is sudden and wider than the north side, it is such that it reaches 30 degrees giving, with the fine and sandy skeleton, a vertical elegance and a unique strong minerality, that if combined with the high rates to the genotypic acidity of the indigenous varieties guarantee a very high aging potential both for the Carricante grapes, Nerello mascalese and Nerello capuccio.

Milo, Condrade Caselle, Volpara and Rinazzo
Milo, on the eastern side of the volcano, represents a very particular terroir, it is lashed by strong rainfalls, among the highest in percentage on the whole island and is subject to very complex pedo-climatic conditions, which if expertly supported are able to give unique wines for complexity and longevity. The soil, the son of the volcanic activity, is made up of several spheres embraced over the centuries, from dark and sandy hills deriving from the collapse of a part of the Etna slope and from recent elements such as pumice, lapilli, fine and draining ash. This terroir, with a subacid reaction, is particularly fertile and loaded with iron and copper, silicon and manganese. And it is here that the Carricante finds its pure and typical expression. The unique conditions, in  act, allow you to raise the vine at altitudes almost unthinkable, with great advantages on the slow and steady maturation of the late ripening indigenous grapes, whose harvest usually takes place during the first or second week of October.

In the Winery

Winemaking is simple and focused on pure expression of fruit from two unique sites. The grapes are harvested in October and cold soaked for 24-26 hours before fermentation in climate control stainless steel tanks. The wine subsequently ages for 6-8 months in bottle prior to release.

The 2019 Vintage at Tenuta Fessina

2019 vintage has been characterized by a mild and dry winter, until April we had rigid and constant trends on the whole slope, with balanced rainfall. In the spring, however, we had a window of good weather that lasted until the beginning of the month of August, where temperatures rose somewhat suddenly. September and October were characterized by a cool and slightly humid climate, leading to a healthy manual harvest done during the first ten days of October. The Erse Bianco 2019 on the nose is rich in citrus fruits and wild herbs such as thyme and sage, has saline and mineral notes reminiscent of graphite and flint which close on an acid, fresh and very long-lasting palate.

Where in the World is Tenuta Fessina?

I thought I’d share these maps to help you get your head around Etna and it’s place in Sicily. The first map gives you the big picture. The second highlights the general area planted on Etna, mostly South to South-East facing. The third shows most, but, not all of the Contrada (single vineyards) and their relative elevations.

Fessina is in Rovitello around Catena to the North-West of Linguaglossa.