Recall the presentation of Casanova di Neri’s new cru: the 2018 Brunello Giovanni Neri dedicated to the winery’s founder.
A strong gust of wind greets us at Casanova di Neri, the sky is clear and the few clouds rush quickly toward the sunset and the Amiata. Welcoming us are the new generation of the company: Marianna, fresh from her master’s degree in the United States, Giovanni, Giacomo’s technical heir, and Gianlorenzo, the company’s front man. Giacomo Neri and his wife Enrichetta are waiting inside, intent on talking with some Italian and foreign colleagues.
Fermentation takes place in open wooden vats, then aging begins in tonneaux for 24 months and finishes in 50-hectoliter barrels. A personal and innovative path for the winery. The result is very interesting and succeeds in enhancing the differences between the winery’s three Brunello selections: Giovanni Neri, Tenuta Nuova and Cerretalto. Accomplice to the 2018 vintage, this new selection is extremely elegant with an intense and refreshing acidity and a very rigorous and fascinating tannic quality. Intense and fresh nose with some balsamic and Nordic flora reverberations, while the progression is elegant and composed with an austere and persistent finish.
A number of estate Brunellos of various vintages were offered during the evening. I was very impressed by the 1979, a wine that makes you think a lot; still alive to the taste that bases its pleasantness on acidity and linearity of taste, incredible also the color still alive, bright and intense. Compact also the nose with still a light red fruit, and then the tertiarization however contained. When it came out in 1984 it was not among the top 5 and its tightness and brilliance fascinates us, but the climatic conditions of those times are now unrepeatable.