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 made significant improvements to Mandarossa's viticulture. 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. Pedro has also singled out limestone as the soil with the highest potential for quality wines.

Given the wealth of sites and varieties at their disposal, it isn't surprising that Mandrarossa now has several different styles of wines. Their native varieties focus on Sicilian grapes such as Nero d'Avola, Grillo, Grecanico and dry Zibibbo. Their international varieties include Syrah, Chardonnay and Fiano, “the foreigner” from across the straits of Messina. The ‘Selection' wines are named after different ‘contrade', small districts within a commune whose wines have shown an individuality that warrants their own distinctive blend. The ‘Cartagho' hails from a sandy vineyard in the Torrenova ‘contrada', regarded as Sicily's best source of Nero d'Avola.

At the top of the hierarchy are the wines made from single sites, comprising 75 hectares from 37 growers, selected by Pedro's vineyard mapping. The grapes for Bertolino Soprano Grillo and Terre di Sommacco Nero d'Avola are sourced from vineyards with limestone-rich soils, showcasing the exceptional results of site selection in this area. Both wines are aged in large, untoasted oak casks, allowing the pure character of the grape variety to express. The sweet Serapias hails from Mandrarossa's project on the island of Pantelleria. Made of partly dried Zibibbo (Muscat of Alexandria) grapes added to the fermenting juice, the resulting wine shows delicate aromatic notes.

The vineyards for this wine are located in the area around Menfi on the south-western coast of Sicily. Vines grow on south and south-west facing hills at around 100-400 metres above sea level on limestone soil. Vines are Guyot trained and planted at a density of 4,000-4,500 plants per hectare.

The grapes were harvested by hand. After being crushed and destemmed, they were fermented in stainless steel tanks at 22-25°C with six to eight days of skin contact. Post-fermentation maceration was carried out with frequent tasting to ensure the extraction of soft tannins. The wine was then aged for three to five months in stainless steel tanks before bottling.

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