Marco Tinessa is one of the most inspiring winemakers in Italy at the moment. He started out with a single vineyard of Aglianico grapes in the countryside near Montemarano, Campania, in the heart of the Taurasi denomination. At the time, he vinified his wines at Frank Cornelissen's winery in Sicily. Because he worked as a broker in Milan, he later opened a winery in the city to work on his wines closer to his day job.

Since then he has expanded his vineyards step by step. He puts his heart and soul into the viticulture, tending to the needs of every single vine and determining what yield is best per plant, in order to produce the perfect ripeness of the grapes.
He now has a winery in Montesarchio, close to his vineyards in Campania, where works with extreme precision and a clear idea of what wine should be. The 2020 vintage was the first to be completed entirely in Campania. Not only is this less stressful for him, but it also allows him to pick his grapes at the exact time he wants to, as there are no more worries about shipping to Sicily or Milan.

Marco's latest addition is a vineyard in Castelfranci, planted with vines between 50 and 90 years old that he uses for the Ognostro Rosso. During his moves and expansions, Marco has managed to keep a consistency: he captures the uniqueness of his terroir by preserving the intrinsic flavours of the grapes with a spontaneous fermentation in neutral vessels, and bottles his wines unfined and unfiltered.

When tasting his first wine, Ognostro Rosso, you will find the most pure and intense expression of the Aglianico grape possible. Aglianico is also known as “the Barolo of the south”, showcasing very intense black fruits. Although Marco is best known for this red wine he initially started out with, his Ognostro white wine, made from 40 to 60-year old Fiano vines, simply blows us away. Marco produces very small quantities of these high quality wines, so don’t miss out on the opportunity to taste his wines.