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Harvest over–a great vintage?

posted on 12 October 2015
Our harvest is complete this year too, and we brought home the fruits of an entire year’s hard work in the vineyards. As always, this is also the time for observations and predictions, with everyone expressing an opinion on the overall quality of the vintage: stars, glasses, clusters, etc. are being generously spread over the season. One thing is sure, though, and that is that the climate is changing, and that will certainly impact our work, which is in large part intimately connected to what nature offers us. We will have to get used to weather marked by extremes: the present 2015, in fact, compared to the cold, rainy 2014, is precisely the opposite. But we all know that extremes do not always make for good balance! For example, this year started out with a spring that was wet, but the rains were not really heavy, followed by a near-endless bout of heat that often reached way-above-average torrid temperatures, which our few summer showers mitigated only now and then. These conditions forced us to perform even more green-harvesting than usual, to ensure optimal ripening to the few remaining clusters. All of this, plus the dry heat, gave us a fairly early harvest, and with a low crop. The grapes, however, were sound and healthy, with deep pigment and fine sugar levels, and right now they are making wines that are particularly rich and powerful. At Cantrina, we can say without any doubt that this will be an excellent vintage, especially for the late-ripening reds, while it will be a good vintage for the whites and Pinot Noir, but they suffered in the heat while they were ripening, and their aromatics will be somewhat weaker than the norm. Work in the cellar Re-structuring work in the cellar deserves a whole chapter all to itself, work that kept us busy throughout the summer and which unfortunately is not yet completely finished. In order to improve the quality of our winemaking and to make the cellar more efficient and to support the slow but constant growth of our modest output, we decided to upgrade our production area. We retired most of the fermentation vats and storage tanks, replaced the old press with a larger, more efficient model, and–quite important–overhauled our tank temperature system, installing a more powerful, programmable unit. You wouldn’t believe how the cellar appeared when the grapes started to arrive: it was wide open every day, constantly a-buzz with plumbers, electricians, equipment installers, and stuff all over the place, and us always there having to coordinate everything and solve all the problems that seemed to arise with each new day…  

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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