Storia
Establishment in Spain — 2021
Finca Fella began in 2021 in Castilla–La Mancha. During that year, the Spanish company was acquired by Fantini Group as the group extended its operating model beyond Italy. Finca Fella was based in Alpera, a small settlement near Albacete, and became the group’s Spanish winery.
The project brought together a newly established commercial and winemaking operation with a much older agricultural inheritance. Its supply base included very old vineyards in the high country around Almansa, with bush-trained vines more than 100 years old and farming knowledge retained by local growers over successive generations.
Fantini Group applied a model in which growers continued to own and cultivate their land while working under agreed production protocols. Long-term relationships were structured around vineyard area and grape quality rather than the volume harvested. Finca Fella consequently operated through collaboration with local farming communities rather than the acquisition of their vineyards.
Consolidation within Fantini Group — 2022–2023
By 2022, Finca Fella was incorporated as Finca Fella S.r.l., a subsidiary directed and coordinated by the Fantini parent company. The Spanish operation encompassed two brands and worked with vineyards in the Albacete area. Its varieties included Garnacha Tintorera, Monastrell, Tempranillo, Syrah, Verdejo and Sauvignon Blanc.
In 2023, the Spanish cultivated area associated with the group was reported at 3,000 ha. Finca Fella’s board consisted of Tommaso Ciampoli as president, with Valentino Sciotti and Carlo Piretti as board members. The project continued to combine traditional care in the vineyards with modern cellar technology.
Terroir
Finca Fella is based in Alpera, close to Albacete, in Castilla–La Mancha. Its principal high-country setting lies around Almansa, described as the highest part of the region. The oldest vineyards occupy a plateau between 900 and 1,200 metres above sea level. Other parcels associated with the range lie at 650–800 metres around Alpera, demonstrating substantial variation in elevation across the vineyard sources.
The broader climate is continental. Summers are short, hot and very dry, followed by a rapid decline in temperature as autumn approaches. The area’s geography creates pronounced day–night temperature differences, including during the hottest months. Cool air arriving from the mountains moderates some of the lower vineyards.
The vineyards occupy elevated plateaus and steep slopes overlooking the valley. In the white-wine parcels at 700–800 metres, the low-fertility soils are reddish-brown sandy clay with abundant limestone and chalk. Red-wine parcels at 650–700 metres also contain chalk and limestone and benefit from favourable exposure and mountain breezes.
Los Pandos, within Almansa, contains old Monastrell vineyards. Its marked thermal variation persists through the hottest part of the season. Monastrell and Garnacha Tintorera are particularly well adapted to the wider territory’s dry continental conditions and large diurnal range.
Vinificazione
The oldest Finca Fella vineyards are bush trained and more than 100 years old. These high-altitude plantings are characterised by very low yields and are treated as demanding, high-country vineyards.
Local growers retain ownership of their land and preserve cultivation knowledge passed through successive generations. Long-term collaboration is based on vineyard area and grape quality rather than harvested volume, while cultivation follows agreed production protocols. The approach is intended to maintain the growers’ connection to their land while directing vineyard work toward quality.
Harvest practices vary by intended wine. Verdejo and Sauvignon Blanc are mechanically harvested at night so that the grapes reach the winery at a low temperature and the must is protected from oxidation. Tempranillo for rosé is also picked at night to preserve aroma and limit oxidation.
Finca Fella combines traditional vinification practices with temperature-controlled stainless-steel equipment and horizontal rotary fermenters.
Monastrell is crushed and fermented in horizontal rotary tanks. Maceration lasts eight days at 26°C. After malolactic fermentation, the wine matures for at least six months in 300-litre French-oak barrels, with new oak representing 15% of the barrels. It then undergoes light clarification, cold stabilisation and amicrobic filtration before bottling.
Tempranillo and Syrah intended for a red blend are vinified separately. Tempranillo ferments in stainless-steel tanks for seven days. Syrah is destemmed and fermented in rotating stainless-steel tanks, followed by 10–15 days of maceration at 26°C. The components are blended shortly before bottling, after light clarification, cold stabilisation and amicrobic filtration.
For rosé, night-harvested Tempranillo is softly destemmed and crushed. Fermentation takes place without skins at 16°C.
For the white range, night-harvested Verdejo and Sauvignon Blanc are softly pressed. The must ferments in stainless-steel tanks for 25 days at 15°C, followed by light clarification, stabilisation and amicrobic filtration before bottling.
Filosofia
Finca Fella defines its approach through artisan attention and refined technology. Its work is centred on varieties capable of adapting to an elevated, dry continental environment with pronounced temperature differences.
The viticultural model gives local growers a central role. Land remains with farming families whose knowledge has been transmitted over generations, while long-term collaboration and quality-based remuneration encourage the continued cultivation of old, low-yielding vineyards. The declared objective is to respect the surrounding environment while joining inherited agricultural practice to modern technical control in the cellar.