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Reviews

93 -Vinous -

90 -James Suckling -

Technical Details

  • Blend 100% Carricante
  • Winemaker Benedetto Alessandro
  • Country Italy
  • Region Sicilia
  • Appellation Etna
  • Vineyard Contrada Caselle Vineyard (located in Milo on the eastern slopes of Mount Etna); spans approximately 0.5 hectares of ~90-year-old ungrafted bush vines (alberello) on original rootstock at an elevation of 950 meters
  • Farming Method Sustainable practices
  • Oak partially aged in French oak tonneaux
  • Fermentation temperature-controlled fermentation in stainless steel tanks and French oak barrels/tonneaux using indigenous yeasts
  • Aging / Cooperage 2 years in stainless steel, 6 months in French oak tonneaux
  • Alcohol 12%
  • Production 83 cases

Tenuta di Fessina Bianco Musmeci Etna 2019

Carricante | Sicilia

VN93, JS90

Sustainable practices

$150.00

$99.95

750ML

33% OFF RETAIL!

Silvia Maestrelli was one of the pioneering figures of the Etna wine renaissance, a woman of fierce conviction and rare sensitivity who spent years negotiating with the countless owners of fragmented volcanic plots to assemble the Fessina estate across three faces of the mountain. Her work established the estate as one of Sicily’s most serious addresses, and her legacy lives on in these extraordinary wines. The Il Musmeci Bianco comes from the Contrada Caselle in Milo, on the eastern slope of Etna, where centenarian alberello (bush-vine) Carricante vines grow at 950 meters on volcanic soils and face the Ionian Sea. The eastern slope loses the sun by 5pm and receives the highest rainfall of any face of the volcano, producing wines of singing acidity and almost electric tension.

The 2019 is a wine of great personality and uncommon complexity: herbs, lemon thyme, vanilla, wax, and citrus zest on the nose, complex and vertical on the palate, sharp and savory, carrying what the estate calls the memory of the sea. Vinous awarded 93 and James Suckling 90. These are tiny-production bottles from 90-year-old vines on one of the world’s most compelling white wine terroirs, at a price that makes them an easy buy. Very limited. Grab them while they’re here.

About The Producer

Silvia Maestrelli arrived on Etna in 2006 following what she described as a coup de foudre for the volcano, its ancient vines, and the rugged, contrasting landscape of its northern slopes. A Florentine by birth with an entrepreneurial family background and winemaking experience already behind her in Tuscany, she spent a year negotiating with the eleven original landowners of a majestic Nerello Mascalese vineyard in Rovittello before founding Tenuta di Fessina in 2007, becoming the first female winemaker to establish an estate on Etna. At the heart of the property is a restored 17th-century mill, transformed into a wine resort surrounded by the estate’s historic vineyards, with a cellar that has become one of the most recognized on the volcano. Founding consulting winemaker Federico Curtaz helped build the estate’s reputation through its first decade before departing in 2015, and the estate’s name itself is a tribute to the Musmeci family, the Rovittello local family who preserved the ancient vines over generations. Today Tenuta di Fessina covers 9 hectares planted across multiple sides of the volcano, from 670 meters in Rovittello to 1,000 meters between Milo and Biancavilla on the eastern and southern slopes, producing wines from Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio for the reds and Carricante for the whites. Silvia passed away unexpectedly in January 2022, leaving a genuine void in the Etna wine world; the estate is now guided by her daughter Lavinia Silva alongside managing director Jacopo Maniaci and winemaker Alessandro Benedetto, preserving the estate’s founding identity with evident care and commitment.

$150.00

$99.95

750ML