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Happy New Year to all!

posted on 24 January 2023

Once again, we find ourselves confronting another challenging year. True enough, Covid is finally largely behind us, but there is still a general climate of uncertainty, underscored by the war at Europe’s borders, whose impact is anything but negligible. The opening weeks of the year bring all of us the opportunity to renew our resolutions and launch new projects. We all must face our problems with optimism and hope, doing our own part with commitment and honesty. And now, on to what is happening at Catrina and what we’re planning…

HARVEST 2022 The 2022 harvest was certainly a great surprise, given the unfavourable weather that preceded it —a dry, hot summer— with far better results than we expected. After a full three years marked by hail and freezes in the spring, we were finally gifted with a fairly good-quantity crop, but what really surprised us was the excellence of the grapes, which promised wines of truly impressive quality, particularly for the reds. In addition, we’ll now be able to build up some reserves in the cellar and be able to bottle a bit more than we expected.

NEW DEVELOPMENTS After years of planning, we’re finally ready to install a small solar panel array, which will give us near-total electrical energy independence. We have wanted this for a long time now, for reasons of environmental sustainability, but the current overall energy situation, with sky-high energy prices, has made its use absolutely indispensable. We have also decided to install an irrigation well, to supply emergency irrigation for some of our vineyards in drought years such as we saw last season, and we will start construction as soon as possible, hopefully before the coming summer. Finally, the latest news is that we just signed a lease agreement for about a hectare of land, quite near our winery, where in the next 2-3 years we will plant a new vineyard to boost our production.

NEW WINES Ever faithful to our business motto of “Personal expression of style,” we decided to bottle two very distinctive and unusual wines, Valtènesi 2020 and an uncommon selection of Nepomuceno 2016.

An elegant version of Valtènesi Chiaretto, dubbed Myroses 2020, in 500 litre used French oak barrel, which imparted significantly more complexity than our standard Chiaretto, as well as a seductive elegance and hints of spice on the nose, an almost golden hue, and a palate that is simply pleasure personified.

Nepomuceno limited edition 2016 is a wine that we have been planning for quite a while, but it had to wait for just the right growing year to see the light of day. We selected lots of the finest red grapes from our estate vineyards for a very special edition of our Nepomuceno. That vintage turned out to be 2016, and it gave us a little less than 1,000 bottles. It matured about 4 years in new oak barrel and spent an additional 18 months in the bottle: a “super nepo”, as you could call it.

We want to let you know that Nepomuceno 2018 has been available for some months now, and that Riné 2020 Organic wineOur supply of Zerdí 2019is almost gone and the 2020 will be released soon. Sole di Dario , one of our most prized wines, is extremely challenging to make at the quality level we demand, so it is simply impossible to produce it every year. Furthermore, the quantities are always limited, since the Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc grapes are carefully dried in a special drying room for a minimum of two months, with a final yield of only 30%. The 2019 vintage is now gone, so we have to patiently wait for the 2021 to be ready, in all likelihood in spring 2024.

On February 14th we will release Valtènesi Chiaretto doc 2022 and Rosanoire 2022. In March, we’ll bottle the superb Groppello 2022, that will be available in April. 2023. UPCOMING EVENTS On February 17th, come meet us at the wine tasting of the European Tour of Gambero Rosso 2023 in Copenaghen. On March 6th, you can enjoy the official La Prima del Valtènesi Chiaretto annata 2023, organised by our Consorzio di Tutela Vini DOC at the gorgeous Museo Mille Miglia in Brescia. From April 2nd to April 5th we will be at from 2 through April, will see us in Padiglione 8 in the VINITALY, in the FIVI area. FIVI. Vinitaly is always a superb opportunity to meet with wine professionals from all over the globe, and to taste all the new releases. Cristina and Diego

Cantrina in real time

posted on 4 March 2011
I am writing from New York… I try in English (no time, unfortunately to have our dear Michael Benson translating for us). The weather is fine, better than in Italy, chilly temperature but no snow. The city is amazing, as always and each time I’m back it seems to me like being back home. Just an update about the mess I’m doing here, working in New York for the second time this year. Today a benefit event will be held by the Brooklyn based Issue project Room, rapidly becoming the point of reference for contemporary art in the New York area. Cantrina is a proud sponsor and our wines will be the only ones in tasting for the night

The Befana’s* Newsletter

posted on 5 January 2011
*[In Italy the feast of Epiphany is “personified” by la Befana, an imaginary, witch-like crone who brings gifts to good children and (sweet) “coal” to those who have misbehaved]. I always like to be a little bit different, so the Befana’s feast is one I identify with… and that is why I am only now taking the opportunity to wish everyone a Happy New Year, assuming you have survived the massive beanfeasts during the recent holiday period! I just have one or two TEENSY-WEENSY bits of news to tell you about: Cantrina has also gained a foothold in MonteCarlo, for now just with our most extreme wine, the ERETICO 2007… I am increasingly convinced that unique products really do make a difference in the marketplace and so one should always be prepared to TAKE A GAMBLE!

Harvest 2010

posted on 6 November 2010
What can we say about the 2010 harvest, which came at the end of a year that was especially strange and difficult? There was a late spring and a rainy summer that was cool and humid, an early autumn and lots of problems with the health of the vines. 2010 will definitely not be one of the vintages of the century and, as things stand right now, it is very hard to pick out any products of real excellence. However, after the first few days of harvesting, which caused us a great deal of apprehension because of all the care and hard work that we had to put into selecting the grapes, we can now say that we are hoping for a few pleasant surprises from the vats where fermentation is just coming to an end. In short, it took us more time to pick less grapes than usual; also, we didn’t set aside any grapes for drying to make the Sole di Dario and we selected fewer grapes for the Nepomuceno. From our initial tastings, though, we can look forward to wines that may be less fleshy and muscular, but which display great freshness, fine aromas and acidity and which should eventually offer elegance and longevity. The French (who know a thing or two about wine) refer to these as “cellar masters’ vintages”: years in which the skill and sensitivity of the winemaker really can compensate for nature’s lack of generosity. We hope we’ve done a good job!
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