It was needed. Not a restaurant, not a hotel, but an art gallery. Or rather, a “concept place” – I must admit, I’m not quite sure how to define it given how much I enjoyed it – like the Contemporary Cluster at Palazzo Brancaccio, chosen to help us wine-addicted understand what has been happening at Mandrarossa during the pandemic.
Where else to start, if not with the visual approach that the location itself imposes…
New labels, a rebranding focused on essentials, and a visual language that welcomes guests with large panels spread across the main hall. Bottles of wine scattered among the bookshelves of the Contemporary Cluster, with Nero d’Avola and Grillo positioned to blend naturally among shelves filled with design magazines.
Then a new corporate video, a component that the winery has always paid great attention to, this time centered on family rather than territory.
“The Sicily you don’t expect” is the payoff that dominates this Roman afternoon. But by now, after seeing what happens during their Wineyard Tours, this is exactly what I expect from Mandrarossa—and more. The connection with art, however, was definitely something I did not see coming.
To be honest, I also did not expect the presentation of the new Larcéra Terre Siciliane IGT 2021, an organic Vermentino, during a Masterclass where I had the chance to taste both whites—Fiano Terre Siciliane IGT 2021, Grillo Sicilia DOC 2021, Bertolino Soprano Bianco Sicilia DOC 2018, Santannella Terre Siciliane IGT 2021—all characterized by pronounced sapidity and remarkable freshness, and two expressions of Nero d’Avola (Nero d’Avola Sicilia DOC 2021, Terre del Sommacco Rosso Sicilia DOC 2017), quite different from each other yet both marked by soft tannins and a very pleasant drinkability.
A different kind of afternoon, with Sicilian traditions at heart but driven by a strong instinct for innovation—an instinct that this time found expression not only in wine but also in art and, as always, in that ability to balance communication, formality, and hospitality in such a way that you inevitably feel “at home.”
