Castellani Vermentino 2016
Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
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The Castellani Family produce classic wines in Tuscany since more than 150 years. Every generation continually experiment with their vineyards and cellars in order to select the best Tuscan wines to be bottled under the family brand.
Exporters of wine since 1903, the Castellani family have founded their high-quality wines on the belief that "the quality of the wine starts in the vineyard". For the past 25 years, the family has worked hard to refine the soil types and microclimates that enhance their 'great Tuscan vines', investing in research and new technologies to ensure the Castellani name continues to be associated with 'memorable wines'.
As a warm breeze rustles new sprouts, the picturesque Tyrrhenian Sea serves as the backdrop for rolling hills of grapevines that spread as far as the eye can see. There are many ways to describe the illustrious Central Italian wine region known as Tuscany, but Piergiorgio Castellani and his family use only one word: home. The Castellani family has lived and produced wines for over a century in Tuscany, where the craft of winemaking has been honed and passed down for generations.
A believer in maintaining the balance between nature and the modern world, Piergiorgio and his family reside in the middle of one of his vineyards, which helps influence the personal closeness he feels to the wine his family makes. “I think this is the best way to certify the quality of what you produce; is when you live in the cultivation that you farm,” he says. The special conditions, both climatic and cultural, that exist in Tuscany already offer everything a winemaker needs, but that could quickly change if the land they cultivate is not cared for.
It’s this 360-degree commitment to the environment that enables Piergiorgio to produce high-quality wines year after year. He renounces using chemical treatments and is continually updating his vineyards to maintain organic and natural farming techniques. This confluence between traditional winemaking practices, modern technological advances, and a deep reverence and appreciation for nature fuels the Castellani family’s continued success in producing incredible, robust Italian wines.
One of the most iconic Italian regions for wine, scenery and history, Tuscany is the world’s most important outpost for the Sangiovese grape. Tuscan wine ranges in style from fruity and simple to complex and age-worthy, Sangiovese makes up a significant percentage of plantings here, with the white Trebbiano Toscano coming in second.
Within Tuscany, many esteemed wines have their own respective sub-zones, including Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. The climate is Mediterranean and the topography consists mostly of picturesque rolling hills, scattered with vineyards.
Sangiovese at its simplest produces straightforward pizza-friendly Tuscan wines with bright and juicy red fruit, but at its best it shows remarkable complexity and ageability. Top-quality Sangiovese-based wines can be expressive of a range of characteristics such as sour cherry, balsamic, dried herbs, leather, fresh earth, dried flowers, anise and tobacco. Brunello, an exceptionally bold Tuscan wine, expresses well the particularities of vintage variations and is thus popular among collectors. Chianti is associated with tangy and food-friendly dry wines at various price points. A more recent phenomenon as of the 1970s is the “Super Tuscan”—a red wine made from international grape varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Syrah, with or without Sangiovese. These are common in Tuscany’s coastal regions like Bolgheri, Val di Cornia, Carmignano and the island of Elba.
A fantastic, aromatic white grape that grows with great success in Sardinia, Tuscany and in lesser proportions on the island of Corsica. Somm Secret—Vermentino is thought to be genetically identical to Liguria’s Pigato grape and Peidmont’s Favorita. It comprises a large proportion of the whites in southern France where it is called Rolle.