newsletter

Yes, here I am again, now that the Befana, the traditional Good Witch of the Epiphany, has landed. She is bearing you, along with Diego, a full load of our warmest wishes for the New Year, and I personally wish that I too could bring you presents, but can you just picture a Befana scattering bottles of wine while trying to fly her broom at the same time?! So it’s better for the moment that the bottles continue to rest in the cellar, and that way they will be here for you when you come–invitation!–to visit us over the course of 2013 to taste them with us. Now, as far as what’s coming up in the near future … …as you already read in the previous newsletter, we have already been grubbing up part of our vineyard, which will quite soon be boasting the Groppello variety. This is a very important decision for us. As many of you know, the winery was conceived to focus mainly on wines made from non-local grape varieties, and so our winemaking was not held to the restrictions of the Valtènesi production codes. But the longer we looked at Groppello, the more we became strongly convinced of its superior qualities as a variety, not just as a market performer. So we are very proud, even if it has come after a full 10 years on, to add groppello to our wine portfolio. Removing part of our already modest vineyard to make way for a local grape is a significant move for us, but it shows our deep faith in groppello, and it will afford us the opportunity in the future of using the new DOC Valtènesi designation. In the meantime, the vineyards allow no leisure: we’ve already begun to prune the canes, tie up the vines, and to perform all of the small operations that go into managing a vineyard. These are the first bricks with which the 2013 vintage will be eventually built…. Just a few more days now and Rosanoire 2012 will be in the bottle, to be released late February-early March, all while our mind is racing ahead to plan for the next wines to be bottled over the course of the year: Groppello 2012, Zerdì 2010, Rinè 2012, Nepomuceno exercise n. 9… As you can see, there’s very little time to just stand around here at Cantrina, but all of our activity has been crowned by a very satisfactory 2012. The harvest was fine, and in spite of unsettled economic conditions our wines have met with brisk demand from our loyal customers and friends, which gives us good reason to look at the future with confidence and hope. Heart-felt best wishes and many, many thanks again to all of you for accompanying us and supporting us all these years. Cristina and Diego