Why it matters
The producer
Fossa Mala began on 12 May 2003 with six hectares of vines on the flat alluvial plain of Fiume Veneto, a town in the Pordenone province of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Katia and Edoardo Roncadin, the siblings who now lead the estate, grew it to 36 hectares and 203,000 vines before October 2025, when their family company Kanada SpA transferred the Cantina RR winemaking and bottling branch to Cantina Rauscedo, a large cooperative in the region. Fossa Mala kept its vineyards and land; Rauscedo took over production management. Fossa Mala still farms its own grapes on its own ground but no longer vinifies independently.
The winery building sits in the middle of the vineyards, which means grapes travel a short distance from vine to cellar. Oenologist Adriano oversees the production process with his staff. The cellar holds 9,000 hectolitres total, with 250 hectolitres in wood and the remainder in temperature-controlled tanks. A photovoltaic installation rated at 380,000 kWh per year covers part of the estate's energy use.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Grave del Friuli is a large DOC appellation covering the western lowlands of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, from the Tagliamento river westward toward Pordenone. The name comes from the gravelly river beds that once dominated the zone, but the soils at Fiume Veneto, where Fossa Mala farms, are heavy with silt and clay laid down over millennia by flood cycles from the rivers that cross the plain. These soils hold water and warmth, giving Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon the conditions to ripen fully on a flat, relatively warm growing plain.
The IGT Trevenezie label on the Rosato reflects a broader classification covering Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige, and Veneto together. Producers use it when a wine's grape blend or origin does not conform to the more specific DOC rules. In Fossa Mala's case, the Rosato blends Merlot and Cabernet in equal parts under the wider regional umbrella rather than the narrower Grave del Friuli DOC.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The consolidated vineyard layout means that harvest is a tight, fast operation. Grapes from the flat alluvial parcels reach the cellar quickly, which preserves freshness and limits oxidation before processing begins.
The 250 hectolitres of wood capacity is a modest fraction of total production, indicating that most wines are made in temperature-controlled steel rather than barrel. For the Rosato specifically, the producer notes brief skin maceration to draw colour, followed by cool fermentation to retain fruit aroma and acidity.
Wines to know
The range in view
The Rosato IGT Trevenezie is Fossa Mala's most visible wine in export markets. It is an equal blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, bottled under the IGT Trevenezie classification to allow the 50/50 blend across variety and origin. The brief maceration pulls a salmon-pink colour from the skins before the juice ferments cool, keeping the wine light-bodied and fruit-forward rather than extractive or tannic.
The Rosato opens with strawberry and raspberry, with a quiet floral note sitting just behind the fruit. In the mouth it is dry and light-bodied, the short maceration keeping tannin out of the picture entirely. Acidity carries the wine forward cleanly and stops the fruit from sitting flat on the palate. The finish is short and fresh rather than complex, consistent with a wine designed for easy drinking rather than ageing. Merlot supplies the rounded fruit core; Cabernet brings a slightly firmer backbone that keeps the wine from being soft.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
The Rosato IGT Trevenezie is the right first bottle from Fossa Mala. It is a dry salmon-pink rosé, half Merlot and half Cabernet Sauvignon, cool-fermented and lightly macerating for colour only. Strawberry and raspberry on the nose, dry and lightly structured in the mouth, with a clean acid finish. It is a warm-plain wine made to drink young, and it shows clearly what the Fiume Veneto vineyard does with these two varieties on its river-clay soils.