2016 Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino 0,75lt.
Usual very young ruby red. Great balance at the nose among small red fruits and spices followed by hints of chocolate. The greatness of the vintage comes out immediately at the first sip: amazing balance among all the components with perfectly ripe tannins and bright acidity. Everything is standing for a great immediate pleasure providing at the same time a great aging potential.
96 POINTS FALSTAFF
95 POINTS R. VECCHIONE WINE CRITIC
95 POINTS WINE SPECTATOR
96 POINTS THE WINE INDEPENDENT
The 2016 vintage is the perfect balance among elegance, opulence, structure and complexity. Winter was warmer than average with some rain in February while budding was regular during the first week of April. Flowering took place on the last week of May with sunnier days, following a mild summer with sporadic rainfall. Ripening process was slowly but consistent, also thanks to the big range between day and night temperatures right before harvest.
Casanova di Neri proudly produces the White Label Brunello since 1978. Our passion and love for the land and our own distinctive Sangiovese joined together to make a wine that stands out for elegance, finesse, high quality and long ageing potential.
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.
MONTALCINO HISTORY: Though Montalcino almost certainly had Etruscan roots, the first historical mention of the place dates back to 814, in a decree emanated by Holy Roman Emperor Louis the Pious that awarded the lands sub Monte Licini (‘under Mount Licini’) to the abbot of Sant’Antimo. The current settlement was founded in the tenth century. By the 14th, under the dominion of Siena, it had become a thriving walled town famous for its leather curing workshops. In 1555, it welcomed six hundred Sienese families who had fled from their city after its capture by Florence and the Medicis, and managed to hold out as “The Sienese Republic of Montalcino” for another four years. Subsequently, until well after the Second World War, the town was a small dot on the map of Tuscany, part of a feudal agricultural district whose inhabitants were often desperately poor. Viticulture had arrived on the scene midway through the 19th century, but it was for many years a marginal part of the local economy, the realm of a small group of local landowners and wine enthusiasts.
Usual very young ruby red. Great balance at the nose among small red fruits and spices followed by hints of chocolate. The greatness of the vintage comes out immediately at the first sip: amazing balance among all the components with perfectly ripe tannins and bright acidity. Everything is standing for a great immediate pleasure providing at the same time a great aging potential.
96 POINTS FALSTAFF
95 POINTS R. VECCHIONE WINE CRITIC
95 POINTS WINE SPECTATOR
96 POINTS THE WINE INDEPENDENT
The 2016 vintage is the perfect balance among elegance, opulence, structure and complexity. Winter was warmer than average with some rain in February while budding was regular during the first week of April. Flowering took place on the last week of May with sunnier days, following a mild summer with sporadic rainfall. Ripening process was slowly but consistent, also thanks to the big range between day and night temperatures right before harvest.
Casanova di Neri proudly produces the White Label Brunello since 1978. Our passion and love for the land and our own distinctive Sangiovese joined together to make a wine that stands out for elegance, finesse, high quality and long ageing potential.
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.
MONTALCINO HISTORY: Though Montalcino almost certainly had Etruscan roots, the first historical mention of the place dates back to 814, in a decree emanated by Holy Roman Emperor Louis the Pious that awarded the lands sub Monte Licini (‘under Mount Licini’) to the abbot of Sant’Antimo. The current settlement was founded in the tenth century. By the 14th, under the dominion of Siena, it had become a thriving walled town famous for its leather curing workshops. In 1555, it welcomed six hundred Sienese families who had fled from their city after its capture by Florence and the Medicis, and managed to hold out as “The Sienese Republic of Montalcino” for another four years. Subsequently, until well after the Second World War, the town was a small dot on the map of Tuscany, part of a feudal agricultural district whose inhabitants were often desperately poor. Viticulture had arrived on the scene midway through the 19th century, but it was for many years a marginal part of the local economy, the realm of a small group of local landowners and wine enthusiasts.