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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 in Cantrina

posted on 8 October 2009
Here we are almost at the end of the harvest (we still have to pick just a tiny part of our grapes and press those that we have set aside for drying) and so, strange as it may seem, it’s time to take stock of the overall situation once again. It was a precocious harvest for the early-ripening grapes (Pinot Nero, Chardonnay and Sauvignon), due to early flowering in the spring and very favourable weather during the summer. The picking time for Merlot, Rebo and Marzemino was more in line with the norm, thanks to a fine September with cool nights and rain-free days. The health of the grapes and the first analyses of the new wines allow us to rate 2009 as a good year. Only time will tell us whether it will be an excellent vintage: yes, time, which is much more truthful than all those exaggerated proclamations we tend to be bombarded with each year as the harvest approaches…

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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