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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…  

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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