linea

Storyteller

Cows, horses, and nothing but green. Account of a tasting in a de-consacrated church.

posted on 11 November 2014
And here I am back from Belgium. The only Italian producer among a group of French, I participated for the second time in three days of tastings organised by my small importer, Michel Wijnen in Dilbeek. Just a few tables, with 8 selected producers, all taking part personally. Next to the bottles were the wine-bar prices, as well as promotional prices in case an order was placed right then. The tasters each received a glass and list of the wines, and they had the opportunity of placing an order immediately as they exited–very efficient! Everyone was very interested and tasted every wine by every producer. The courtesy and hospitality of the Michel Wijnen family were stupendous. They put me up at their B&B right out in the country, and from the windows the view was of cows and horses in the midst of an endless green carpet. In the evening, they personally cooked for us, since both Michel and Antony were Michelin-starred chefs in the past, so you can imagine the quality of the dinner! It was wonderful to spend a few days with them. Comments on the tasting… Valtènesi (Groppello 100%) received the most favourable comments: among all the other full-bodied wines, it stands out, with its lighter body, fine fruit, delicacy, and great approachability. Zerdì too was much appreciated, with its fine balance between light and full body, as well as its good price-quality ratio. Tasters liked Rosanoire for its complexity (rosés here are usually seen as a bit on the frivolous side). At the end of the day, exhaustion… the story of the wines told and re-told a thousand times, with the identical enthusiasm as if you were talking about your children. Before this final day, we go to drink the famous Belgian beer, and what a world that is. They even drink beers aged 30 years and more; they take beer seriously here!

2014 harvest… totally difficult, but not impossible

posted on 15 October 2014
We have finally finished this year’s troubled harvest, and after our series of tastings we feel that we can now give a very preliminary judgment on this year’s wines. The factors that characterised this growing season were huge amounts of rain, low average temperatures, little sun, and a summer that we saw only for brief moments. These conditions created a host of problems, with the grapes struggling to achieve ripeness and various fungal attacks – despite our constant efforts in the vineyards – affecting both clusters and leaves.

New Valtènesi DOC and Groppello

posted on 9 August 2014
1 September marks the official release of our first vintage of Valtènesi DOC, 2013. In point of fact, Cantrina’s Valtènesi is not a new product, since it simply takes the place of Groppello, with the same 100% of that variety and the same label design (in which the term Valtènesi replaces the name of the Groppello grape), but the change gives increased importance to the name of the growing area in which we live and produce our wines. It will just take a bit of time to get used to the new name and to communicate the message about the growing area, before that of the grape variety.

Rischi del mestiere…

posted on 7 July 2014
Dopo anni che non ci colpiva o ci aveva solo sfiorato, la “signora” ci ha fatto visita nella notte del 24 giugno interrompendo bruscamente una stagione che fin qui si presentava più che ottima: d’altra parte è un fatto ciclico e prima o poi doveva capitare anche a noi… C’è voluto qualche giorno per recuperare le energie e la voglia di analizzare serenamente l’entità dei danni, che per ora sembrano limitati ad una perdita di quantità, “solo” un 30/40% della produzione.
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