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. Solar panels fuel this completely sustainable winery, which is well integrated into the surrounding hills. They have since increasingly focused on single-site wines after mapping the diverse soils of their vineyards and identifying their best sites.

Under the leadership of co-operative president Giuseppe Bursi, consultant winemaker Alberto Antonini has also sought to improve viticulture, which has resulted in better wines. Working with terroir specialist 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 ‘Innovation’ wines are named after different ‘contrade’, small districts within a commune whose wines have shown an individuality that warrants a unique or distinctive blend.

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. Their ‘Cartagho’, hails from a sandy vineyard in the Torrenova ‘contrada’, regarded as Sicily’s best source of Nero d’Avola. This iconic Mandrarossa wine has won ‘Tre Bicchieri’ six times in recent years.

The ‘Bertolino Soprano’ Grillo and ‘Terre di Sommacco’ Nero d’Avola are two ‘contrada’ wines which highlight the excellent results of site selection in this area. To allow the grapes from these sites to express their maximum potential, Cantine Settesoli has focussed on minimal intervention in the vineyard. 870 hectares of their vineyards are farmed organically. They also have one of the largest solar energy installations in the Italian winemaking sector, ensuring that the Sicilian sun not only ripens the grapes but also powers the winery equipment, thereby reducing their carbon dioxide emissions.

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.