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Ready for the new season!

posted on 20 March 2025
Warm greetings! With spring at the doors, we’re happy to send you some brief news items about what’s going on at Cantrina.

SOME NEWS FIRST ABOUT THE VINEYARDS

It’s certainly no longer novel, but we’ve had the umpteenth mild winter, an aspect of climate change that we have been seeing for years now. This year, though, conditions were unusually wet and tedious, with drizzles in autumn that lasted for months.
They didn’t harm the health of the vines, but conditions were certainly unpleasant for those in the vineyards doing the winter pruning. In a few days, finally, after two years, we will complete planting our new vineyard, on land we recently bought. We are anxiously expecting the initial crop—in harvest 2025--from the first vines planted in 2023.



SOME DEVELOPMENTS IN THE WINE DEPARTMENT

In late January, we bottled the rosés Valtènesi DOC “a rose, is a rose, is a rose” 2024, Rosanoire 2024, and Valtènesi DOC “Myroses” 2022. Among recent vintages, the 2024 is expressing itself as one of the best, in freshness, sapidity, and clean-edged aromatics. We are used to seeing a similar performance from Rosanoire , which is always quite consistent and reliable over time, but this year’s “a rose, is a rose, is a rose” DOC Valtènesi has really surprised us, in that it is the full expression of its terroir, the Valtènesi, an area renowned for rosé production. This year’s is possibly the best we have made so far. "Myroses" 2022 is a chapter in itself: a grand, elegant wine with years ahead of it, pleasurable and with loads of personality.



Many of you have been asking us when the new Cortecciowould be arriving. For those still unfamiliar with it, this is our red Pinot Nero that, in special years, we make a few bottles of and only when the wine completely satisfies our idea of what a Pinot Nero should be. Well, after months, if not years, of doubts, trials, re-thinkings and infinite tastings, we decided to bottle a few hundred bottles, fruit of a blend of two vintages—the union of a small part of the hot, powerful 2022 with the crisper, more elegant and aromatic 2023. A salute to Groppello 2024! The new concrete vat in which it is maturing is working well, and the wine seem truly promising. We are thinking of bottling it before the 2025 harvest. We’ll keep you up-to-date.

TASTING THE WINES

In April, with the opening of the season, we’re starting the tastings at the winery again. We remind you that it’s always best to let us know beforehand or set a time with us via e-mail or telephone.

EVENTS

This year, too, we decided to skip Vinitaly (6-9 April). Although we continue to think that it’s an important trade fair, it’s too large and dispersive for an operation such as ours. Since we are just a few kilometres from the fair, if anyone is interested, we will make ourselves available for business meetings. We can be with you right in the cellar, where we can taste all the new vintages. We are also willing to set up an appointment right at Vinitaly, at the Consorzio di tutela Valtènesi in the Palaexpo Regione Lombardia.

We wish all of you an enjoyable spring!

Cristina and Diego  

Let’s talk about…Vinitaly 2009

posted on 20 March 2009
vendemmia 2019
Here we are getting ready for Vinitaly 2009, even if it seems to us less and less like a fair that is appropriate for small producers like ourselves: amid all the hustle and bustle of this great event it is difficult to explain to people about our “open-minded exercice de style”. This year, therefore, we are concentrating on alternative methods of getting together with our friends (let’s hear from you!). However, if you are at Vinitaly on 2nd and 3rd April you can find us in the Lombardy pavilion in the PalaExpo on stand C7. If you so desire, we will be able to give you more details about our new releases, which we will merely outline below: Groppello, an indigenous grape variety of the Valtènesi, has become a part of Cantina’s range; with the 2008 vintage we have sought to express and interpret the potential of this cultivar in line with our particular philosophy of production. Rinè 2007 will have a new label, which will also reflect a few small changes we have made in the wine itself. Incrocio Manzoni is the new grape variety that gives this wine a stronger identity.

Cantrina from the old to the new year

posted on 20 January 2009
2008 is now just a memory: it gave us cause for concern with its rains in the spring and then cause for satisfaction with a late summer and early autumn that were ideal for ripening the grapes. The harvest then took place in cool, dry weather conditions: this, together with our efforts to keep down yields, allowed us to pick healthy grapes with a good sugar/acid balance. The resulting wines combine concentration with very fresh aromas and flavours, suggesting that they will have excellent ageing potential. 2008 was also a year for reflection. We thought long and hard about the type of wines we produce, constantly asking ourselves the same questions: “Can we express our terroir even without using indigenous grapes?” and “Can we demonstrate that quality and personality are independent of autochthony?”
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