The Mandrarossa wines hail from a selection of the best sites within Cantine Settesoli's 6,000 hectares of vineyard in southwestern Sicily, planted with 32 grape varieties. The vineyards are split between the cooperative's 2,000 members and cover the area around Selinunte, the hauntingly beautiful ruins of a Greek town founded 2,600 years ago. Cantine Settesoli helps support the restoration of this archaeological site.

First produced in 1999, Mandrarossa opened its own winery in 2021. They have one of the largest solar energy installations in the Italian winemaking sector, with their solar panels fuelling this completely sustainable winery, which is well integrated into the surrounding hills. Since then, Mandrarossa has increasingly focused on single-site wines after mapping the diverse soils of its vineyards and identifying its best sites.

Under the leadership of co-operative president Giuseppe Bursi, consultant winemaker Alberto Antonini has sought to improve viticulture, focusing on minimal intervention in the vineyards, resulting in better wines. Working with soil-mapping expert Pedro Parra and head winemaker Mimmo De Gregorio, Alberto has selected 500 hectares of vineyards from 160 growers to produce the Mandrarossa wines. These vineyards are close to the sea, where intense sunlight, moderating sea breezes, mild temperatures, multiple elevations and a myriad of different soil types combine to create the quality of grapes that Mimmo and Alberto are looking for.

The vineyards for this wine are located near Menfi on the south-western coast of Sicily, at an altitude of 250 metres above sea level. They are south and west facing and planted on sandy soils. Vines are Guyot trained, with a density of 4,300-5,000 plants per hectare.

The harvest of refined grapes were performed using a mechanical night harvest, over a period of 40 days. This guaranteed the preservation of the quality of the grapes at an excellent level. Maceration and fermentation took place over the course of four to six days at 22-25°C. The wine was matured in steel vats for around four months before bottling.

Perfect with grilled chicken or tuna