2021 Casanova di Neri Toscana “Pietradonice” Cabernet Sauvignon, Tuscany, Italy

ABOUT THIS WINE

With Pietradonice, Casanova di Neri makes a great international variety its own. Cabernet Sauvignon is well known for its ability to reflect, interpret and be forged by a territory. Casanova di Neri’s expertise in the vineyard and the cellar prove, once again, how a unique terroir can craft unique wines. A wine of decisive character and striking personality is the child of a special microclimate and a soil found nowhere else, one that contains the fragments of onyx that lend their name both to the vineyard and the wine itself. This is a magnificent red of immense depth, with huge aromas, fragrance and flavours. Its tannins are supremely elegant, conveying a sweet aftertaste that lingers in the mouth.

100% Cabernet Sauvignon. Manual selection of the grapes first and - after destemming - by optic selector. After that, spontaneous fermentation without added yeasts follows and maceration is facilitated by frequent pressing. Everything takes place in conical steel vats at controlled temperature for 18 days.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

Casanova di Neri is founded by Giovanni Neri, a 48-year-old grain merchant from the town of Montevarchi in the Arno valley south of Florence. Passionate about wine, Neri had long dreamed of making a great Italian red, and although the long-established wine zone of Chianti Classico was just on his doorstep, it was remote Montalcino and its austere Sangiovese wines that fascinated him. Brunello di Montalcino had achieved  DOC (controlled origin) status just four years previously, and there were still only around thirty producers in the whole area, compared to more than 250 today. One rural property on the market had caught Neri’s attention during his frequent forays to Montalcino: Podere Casanova, a working farm of around 200 hectares on the eastern side of town. Wine represented only a small part of the farm’s production at the time, and what was made was sold in bulk, but Neri recognized that thanks to its altitude, aspect and soil composition, the place had the potential to make great Brunellos. In May 1971, he bought Podere Casanova, changed its name to Casanova di Neri, and in consultation with some of Tuscany’s leading winemakers, immediately began work to restore the estate’s existing Sangiovese vines and plant new ones.