2011 Tenute Venissa Rosso Veneto 500ml

This wine stands out for its ruby red color with violet nuances. On the nose it offers notes of salt marsh flowers together with a fruity sensation that recalls dark woodland fruit such as blackberries and blueberries and more complex expressions like tobacco with briny notes. On the palate, a balsamic and salty perception, followed by a sensation of dark fruit, licorice and dark chocolate. The finish presents a wine that is mellow and creamy with long lasting persistence.
The Venissa Estate lies on Mazzorbo, one of the three islands of Native Venice, an archipelago of nature, colors, flavors, and art that also includes Burano and Torcello. Venissa is the perfect example of a “walled vineyard.” It was restored by the Bisol family of Prosecco fame, and in it grows the Dorona di Venezia variety, native to the Venetian Lagoon and cultivated for centuries until nearly becoming extinct after the great flood of 1966.

Vineyard (6.8 acres) is located on Santa Cristina Island in Venice. Varietal Composition: 82% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon.
Soil Type: Lagoon; slightly-sandy; slightly chalky 

Like Venissa Bianco, the bottle honors Venice’s past and pays homage to local traditions. One of the greatest traditions of Venice’s artisanal past is, in fact, that of the families of gold hammerers, the “Battiloro” in Italian. They hammer gold by hand, ultimately obtaining an impalpably fine gold leaf. It is a tradition that, like winemaking, had almost completely disappeared from Venice. With the Rosso, copper replaces gold but is still applied by hand to each bottle and baked onto the glass in one of the glassmaking ovens on the famous island of Murano.