12 April 2005
A good glass in Bedizzole - Orobie
The monthly magazine Orobie dedicates an article to Azienda Agricola Cantrina, here are the most significant points:
A good glass in Bedizzole
(...)
Cantrina: this is not a misprint, it is spelt just like that with an 'r'; it is the name of a hamlet of Bedizzole that, as chance would have it, was once famous precisely for its wine cellars. A pleasant place on the morainic hills sloping down towards Lake Garda, whose beneficial influences can be enjoyed right up here. The Cantrina winery was founded in 1990 thanks to Dario Dattoli, an enterprising character in the Brescian restaurant industry, owner of several establishments in the city, who literally fell in love with wine and decided to produce it himself with the help of his partner Cristina Inganni, who on the other hand graduated from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts. Supported by the advice of internationally renowned experts, Dattoli planted different varieties of vines, the most suitable for the type of climate and soil, on a total area of around six hectares until 1998. After Dattoli's untimely death in an accident, it was Cristina Inganni who continued along this path, assisted by Diego Lavo, an agricultural expert and wine expert, as well as an experienced mountaineer. (...)
(...) After a long period of experimentation, some microvinification, assisted by the consultancy work of Celestino Gaspari's Zymè studio, the wines take their final shape. Thanks to the very low yields per hectare of the vineyards, they are in limited production, and in total amount to no more than thirty-five thousand bottles. This is a high quality production that is intended to stand out clearly from the average Brescian Carda. The company's flagship wine is certainly Sole di Dario, a passito wine made from Sauvignon and Semillon (the same blend used to make the great Sauternes in France), dedicated to the company's founder. The most full-bodied wine is undoubtedly Nepomuceno, a beautiful, soft and opulent wine made only from merlot grapes. The other important red is Corteccio, a pure Pinot Noir (from French clones, like those grown in Burgundy), aged for a long time in barriques. Completing the range of top wines is Riné, a white wine made from riesling grapes with the addition of chardonnay and sauvignon. Cantrina has recently released a new wine, Guerrino, which is intended to be the base wine, i.e. the wine of the year, not aged in wood, to be consumed fairly fresh: it is made from rebo grapes (Rigotti crossbreed, barbera base), pinot noir and merlot. Just recently, construction work was completed on the new, modern, rational and spacious cellar where all the equipment, tanks, barrels and barriques are located. The old underground cellar with stone walls, on the other hand, has been completely emptied and will be used to store the collection of old vintages.