Marco Tinessa

Wine lover turned winemaker Marco Tinessa has turned out another stellar set of wines from his vineyards in Campania. For anyone that doesn’t already know the story, wine was a hobby and love of Marco Tinessa, which led him to spend most of his free time touring wine country and working hard to experience the greatest vinous creations made around the world. Ultimately, this brought him to Frank Cornelissen on the top of Mount Etna in Sicily. He fell in love with the style and worked hard to understand the passion and science behind Frank’s creations. Before long, Tinessa was trucking fruit down from rented vineyards in Campania to the Cornelissen winery, where he and Frank would work together to make the wines; all the while, learning the craft. The 2016 “Last Trip to Sicily”, a Campania red made in Sicily, marked the last vintage that was made with Frank Cornelissen’s help and facility. Today, Tinessa makes his wines from his own winery in Milan while constructing a new location in Campania, and slowly increasing his holdings throughout Montemarano. This includes newly-planted vineyards that will take years to come on line. However, that doesn’t matter, because Tinessa is no one-hit-wonder, nor is he riding the coattails of Frank Cornelissen. This has become quite clear to me while tasting the 2018 Rosso Ognostro, from a vintage heavily marked by drenching rain during harvest. When you taste this wine, which didn’t spend any time in wood, all you taste is the quality of primary fruit; it is a true testament to the source and Marco Tinessa’s non-interventionist winemaking. Watch closely; this is one of Campania’s rising stars.