MandrarossaNerod’AvolaSicily2013

Flagship Wines, St Albans, 01727 865 309 | Mandrarossa Nero D’Avola Sicily 2013

The Mandrarossa Nero d’Avola Sicily is a real find from Menfi in the southwest of Sicily. This local grape variety gives lovely soft fruit flavours with layers of damsons and plums.

Settesoli wines are sourced from Sicilian grape varieties typical of the Mediterranean region, like the Grecanico, the Inzolia and the Nero d’Avola plus other imported varieties. Today the vineyards are closely monitored by agronomists who select the finest grapes and keep every step of the process under control. Thanks to modern technology, they are also able to determine the best time for harvesting and their experienced oenologists in the cellar do the rest using some modern techniques and ideas whilst retaining the traditional that work well.

The grapes are harvested by hand and taken to the factory and using advanced technologies and a refrigeration system, we go through the stages of destemming, crushing, fermentation and classification of each individual lot in order to create specific blends.

Mandrarossa wines are made by a company called Settesoli that was founded in 1958 by a group of forward thinking farmers who were willing to fight the severe economic crisis which spread throughout the territory. In 1974 the company started bottling a selection of wines made from local grape varieties. In the mid-80s Settesoli started growing international varieties. As of today, with its four factories and an overall working capacity of 50.000 tons (over 55.000 US tons) of grapes per year, Settesoli is the largest wine company in Sicily, owning 5% of the vineyards across the island, the biggest in Europe. Twenty million bottles are made in a year and they are sold in 35 countries, with 62% of production allocated to foreign markets.

During the past 40 years Settesoli has promoted and spread the winemaking culture throughout the region, creating a real wine district and employing, directly or indirectly, over the 70% of the 5.000 families residing nearby. This scale of involvement in the local community is unique and holds even greater importance considering that Settesoli works in complete harmony with the environment.

This wine is a perfect match with sausages, hard cheese, roasted red and white meat, braised and roasted vegetables.