Etna Rosso DOC 'Il Musmeci' 2018 (750 ml.) Tenuta di Fessina

THE WINE

Etna Rosso 'Il Musmeci' by Tenuta di Fessina is a wine dedicated to Mr. Ignazio Musmeci, who for many years has preserved the vines with so much love that it has been able to work vines that are over eighty years old. It is a pure Nerello Mascalese that was born in Rovittello at 700 meters above sea level. from 1932 vineyards. Cultivated in semicircular skies that create a microclimate that allows the grapes to ripen slowly and completely, giving the wine unique elegance and complexity, which are refined in the bottle, giving austerity and longevity. Refines 10-12 months in French oak tonneaux, then in large barrels for 6-8 months and finally in the bottle for at least 4 years. Bouquet of red fruit and Mediterranean herbs, tannic and silky taste, velvety, round, enveloping and complex finish. Excellent.

THE COMPANY

Tenuta di Fessina is an emotional project which took shape as Silvia Maestrelli’s love of this land rich in contrasts grew deeper and deeper. In 2007, with the help of winemaker Federico Curtaz, who had worked as Gaja’s agronomist for twenty years, the Tuscan wine producer purchased an old vineyard of Nerello Mascalese grapes dating back to the past century. In the middle of the vineyard stood a true gem: an eighteenth-century lava millstone with the chianca- the winepress- still intact. I' vigne di Fessina, as the locals have always called the Rovittello vineyards, located in the town of Castiglione di Sicilia, show all the love and care poured into them by the previous owners, to whom we dedicate our Nerello Mascalese cru wine,  Il Musmeci ETNA DOC Red, to thank them for having preserved and protected the vineyards growing on Mount Etna. At first glance, Fessina may look like a golden fruit garden or a small whispering wood of bright green tree crowns ruffled by the nourishing wind blowing from the Mountain of Fire, set between two fertile lava flows, with age-old twisted trees sculpted by nature. It is really quite impossible not to fall in love with it at first sight.

Fessina’s throbbing heart beats at 670 meters above sea level. The vineyards-extending over about seven hectares-, are enclosed by two semicircular, centuries-old lava flows, which protect the vineyards and create a unique microenvironment,  just like the walls enclosing the French “clos” do. Hazel groves, olive trees and vineyards alternate, creating a patchwork of tilled land interspersed with dark lava stone walls. Fessina is also home to some very old vines, trained with the traditional, ancient gobelet system, with high planting density per hectare and low yield.

The vines are rooted in shallow, black soils composed of sand, pumice stones and clay and rich in trace elements: iron, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and manganese. The wines they give feature outstanding richness and complexity of aromas as well as an interesting and elegant structure. The intense minerality stands out on both the nose and the palate. Winters in Rovittello are bitter cold with heavy snowfall, springs are mild and rainy, summers are hot and dry, autumns are long, warm with large night-day temperature swing.
“Vertical” wines with marked acidity and a clear-cut aromatic profile. In Fessina, winegrowing is done by hand, as in the Valtellina region and in the Moselle and Rhine valleys: the vineyards are terraced along steep hillsides. That is where Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio and Carricante grapes grow. It is not organic winegrowing, it is simply “vine-conscious”: we do and use only what the vine needs.