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Crazy weather!

posted on 6 June 2012
Greetings to all of you, just a few months after our last newsletter, here we are again, right in the middle of a new growing season. “We just don’t have real seasons anymore,” has become a set-phrase overused by almost everyone, but it certainly is right on the mark for this crazy start to 2012! December and January were cold and dry, then February was freezing, followed by a March that was almost summer-like. Heavy rains and snow arrived only in late spring, with temperature swings of as much as 10-15oC between one day and the next. All of this crazy weather nevertheless brought the vineyards into very fine growing conditions, with growth that is quite vigorous, maybe even too much, since the vines are keeping us running to keep everything balanced and to monitor the crop. So 2012 is shaping up to be a “strange” year, but every vintage has its own fascination and distinctiveness, and here at Cantrina we’re certainly not ones to let the unusual get us worried! Last February we released Rosanoire 2011 and in May Groppello 2011, and our customers are telling us how well these wines have turned out. In fact, 2011 is yielding just what we were confident it would: wines with full, well-ripened fruit yet at the same time elegant, clean, and crisp. In a few months, we will release Nepomuceno 2007; we think that a little more time in the bottle will give a tad more maturity to a wine that is so famously “muscular” and forceful as is Nepomuceno. Something to keep in mind, please, is that we hope you will confirm what we believe, that this is perhaps the finest vintage yet produced, even more elegant than usual, and exceptionally drinkable for such a firmly-structured wine. Wine guides: We usually supply samples of our wines to the annual wine guides (too many?), but this year we will be sending them only Nepomuceno 2007, Groppello 2011, and Rosato 2011; the other wines are either not bottled yet or are not yet ready. May and June at Cantrina are simply magnificent for the explosion of roses all in flower–and there are truly a lot and of so many varieties!–, not to speak of the cherries already ripe on the trees, and the vineyard in full flowering, with the vines’ delicate but intense fragrance so heady and inebriating, just filling the air all around, yet you can’t really get enough of it! Palazzetto di Cantrina. For some time now we have been thinking about how to improve and better utilise the Palazzetto that is part of our farming estate, which is rather run-down. In November, we got together some friends for a brain-storming session, and a lot of good ideas emerged (thanks!), which we are now working on. The only thing we are missing is the one key idea on how to finance the work! Cristina and Diego

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!

Cantrina at New York

posted on 6 July 2010
Hello there everyone! As in all family-run companies we’ve been very busy, and so some time has passed since our last newsletter… Here, then, is a little news about our activities over the past few months. Having found an importer in the United States, we went to New York for a brief business trip and we are now looking forward to seeing our wines on the lists of some specialist wine stores and/or exclusive restaurants in Manhattan. In our opinion, New York is a city that offers great opportunities and there even particular products like ours can find the right type of market exposure. At a tasting at the Hudson Hotel our products – especially the Nepomuceno and the Rinè - were highly appreciated, and our American friends suggested that we define our wines as “unconventional” because of the character and original style that set them apart.

Let’s meet in Cantrina

posted on 1 April 2010
LIBERO ESERCIZIO DI STILE 2009 We keep on experimenting at Cantrina and in 2009 it was the turn of a tank of Roséobtained from the vinification of 100% Pinot Nero (Pinot Noir) grapes. At the moment, fruit and freshness are the main characteristics of this wine. The must was in contact with the skins for about 9 hours, followed by careful vinification and maturation in stainless steel. In our opinion it is a wine that has good potential for development: we’d like to see what it’s like in a year’s time… after all, we’re talking about a rosé made from a well-structured grape like Pinot Nero. By the way, the wine is already on sale.
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