Product information

Tenutta Fessina Erse Rosso 2018

Red Blend from Sicily, Italy, Etna

$49

$46ea in any 3+
$43ea in any 6+
Closure: Cork

Description

Excellent, dominantly Nerello Mascelese, slatey/silky tannins, lovely texture. Excellent set of flavours with fresh red countered with a dark edge. There is more to come here given a year or two to evolve. Looks like neutral large oak maturation. Hints of olives, woody herbs and an edge of spice.

Nerello Mascalese 90%, Nerello Cappuccio 8%, Minnella, Carricante 2%

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Check out all of the wines by Tenuta di Fessina

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 vineyards are located in contrada Rovittello. This well established site boasts vines averaging 70 years old. Positioned 700 metres aboves sea level, the site enjoys a north-easterly exposition.

Rovittello

Rovittello, the pulsating heart of Fessina, is gathered between two semi-circular lava flows, a nest that brings to mind the ancient concept of French clos. The soil is fine and deep, composed mainly of pumice, fine destructured clays and ancient powders. The terroir has centenarians rootstocks, mainly consisting of Alberelli of Nerello Mascalese, a small portion of Nerello Cappuccio and some plants of Carricante and Minnella. Terraces mark the centuries dividing the various genotypes and the various ages. This cauldron of biodiversity is revealed hidden, an amphitheater that protects and develops a unique specificity that gives it feminine, irony and finely spicy notes. The approximately 8000 plants per hectare and the difference of genotypical character and age are a clear  symbol of peasant agriculture on the volcano, made of ancient handmade vineyards, tradition and history.

In the Winery

After a careful selection of the fruit in the vineyard, the grapes are triaged again on a sorting belt in the cellar. The fruit is then gently de-stemmed and crushed with rollers before undergoing fermentation in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks. Temperatures are maintained at 23 to 26 degrees as the wine macerates on skins for 6 to 9 days in order to extract colour and perfume. The wine then ages for 1 year in bottle prior to release.

The 2018 Vintage at Tenuta Fessina

2018 vintage was characterized by a rainy winter, with temperatures that almost never dropped below freezing. However, since February there has been an almost total absence of rainfalls until April. Spring experienced drought phenomena until late July, pushing the bush vines to a rich and satisfying ripening. However, the rains from August to October, except for mid-September, reached an unusual trend of over 800 mm, that is, the quality of more than a year of rainfall. The wines are more slender than the previous vintage, more feminine, floral and with a higher acidity than the average.

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.

Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge.
The lava flows that surround Tenuta di Fessina’s estate. Click to enlarge.

Where in the world does the magic happen?

Tenuta di Fessina, SS120, Rovittello, Province of Catania, Italy

Etna
Sicily
Italy