Tenute Tomasella—the 2nd generation, family-run winery located in Italy’s Mansuè that’s coming up on its 60th anniversary—has edgy wines. And I mean that both figuratively and literally.
Farming about 50 hectares between Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, they are located on the literal edge of two Northern Italian DOCs: Friuli and Prosecco. And they take their position as a sort of gateway between the two wine regions quite seriously.
About 16 different wines are produced by Tenute Tomasella (who make 120,000 bottles/year, including sparklers), and I recently tasted through a handful of them during an online-led sampling of their wares. They claimed to have a vineyard-first philosophy, with work done to match vine clones to each plot, minimizing chemical use (they’re in the process of converting to organic now, and should be certified by 2026 vintage), and devote some of their land to apiaries (though they do not produce their own honey… alas, a missed opportunity there).
The TL;DR synopsis is that the wines of Tenute Tomasella are well-made, carefully considered, authentic, and just tasty. They are looking for USA representation as of the time of this writing (Summer 2025), so somebody in the wine biz needs to get the f*ck on that, because these are damned good, restaurant-friendly wines…
2023 Tenute Tomasella ‘Pro’ Prosecco Spumante Rosato Extra Dry, Veneto, $NA
This bubbly is about 15% Pinot Nero on the Sylvoz training system, along with Glera (of course). It starts with a lovely wild strawberry note, along with rose petal and white blossoms, and then red and white table grape hints. Fruity, fun, and fresh in the mouth, with plenty of juicy and robust fruit, floral hints, and watermelon and red berry action, it even shows a hint of structure in the mouth. This would be fantastic with young cheeses.
2023 Tenute Tomasella Friulano Friuli Grave, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, $NA
This white spends five months in steel vats on the fine yeasts, followed by 2 months of bottle aging. You get lemon peel, lemon blossom, kumquat, herbs; the nose is immediately enticing. The citrus fruitiness pops on the lively palate, with hints of herbs, flint, and almond skin on the medium+ finish. It’s definitely the fruitier side (rather than the bitter side) of the variety. Delicious AF.
2022 Tenute Tomasella ‘Rigole’ Rosso, Trevenezie, $21
A blend of Merlot (60%) and Refosco (40%), that spends eight months in steel vats and eight months in bottle before release. One of their oldest labels, Rigole was originally made by their founder. Deep and intense on the nose, with the plums trending towards black (with some blue), augmented by juicy sour black cherries and dark, dusty spice notes. Boysenberry, maybe even some rhubarb—there’s a whole little wild garden going on here. Lively, juicy, with intense red berries and red plums, and sour cherries, with ample structure to frame it all on the palate. The finish is long, too, with wild herb and red licorice action.
NV Tenute Tomasella ‘Chinomoro’ Chinato, Veneto, $NA
Ok, here is where things are at their figurative edgiest. The tech sheet describes this as [sic] “a rich digestive wine obtained from the vinification of selected Merlot grapes, aged in oak barrels and flavoured with herbal essences of aloe, absinth, calumba, coriander, rubharb, cinchona, orange, elder flowers, among others.” The label says that it’s “ideal with chocolate.” The name refers to a dark version of the production method used to create it; it’s not quite a vermouth technically, but it exists in the same gastronomic space.
Heavy on the incense, with black licorice, dried strawberry, coriander, black and blue plums, and hints of orange peel, flowers and aloe leaf. It’s heady and enveloping. The palate is more vibrant that you’d expect, plummy and incredibly spicy, with the coriander prominent. It sporting 200 g/l RS, but you do not feel it as that high, due to the freshness. Very, very tasty (and very long), with a kiss of syrup at the end.
Cheers!