Winemaker Notes
The 2017 vintage, characterized by a generally warm climate, nonetheless maintains the freshness and the typical Mediterranean style of Cervaro della Sala. The nose offers perceptible notes of chamomile and flint. The palate is savory with the characteristic and delicate sensations of vanilla and butter which meld gracefully into hints of tropical fruit to compose a well-defined bouquet. The wine is still young, but will be able to evolve well for years to come as well.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is big and powerful, without being ripe and heavy. So much apple, stone, and hints of toffee. Aromatic. Full-bodied, layered and framed with phenolic tension and a great finish. Muscular and agile at the same time. One of the best I have tasted.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Thanks to the warm conditions of the vintage, the 2017 Cervaro della Sala takes us back to a time when this wine was denser, more extracted and packed with glycerin-rich fruit flavors like apricot and peach. Of course, the Antinori family has since moved beyond that style, most notably by tweaking the oak regime used on this wine. But the thickness and richness of the fruit in this dry and hot vintage takes us back in time with a hint of sweet nostalgia. This wine is fresh and spicy with stone fruit, mature apricot, honey, saffron and toasted almond.
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Wine & Spirits
Yields at Castello della Sala were down in 2017 thanks to a late spring frost and a hot, dry summer. Selective drip irrigation and early picking (mid-August for the chardonnay, early September for the grechetto) produced a wine with vibrant flavors of green apple and brisk lemon enriched by toasty notes picked up during five months in oak barrels. Decant this for an hour to allow the fruit and oak flavors to meld, and serve it with poultry in a rich cream sauce.
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Wine Spectator
Lavish hints of oak spice and lime blossom make an aromatic entry for this vibrant, medium- to full-bodied white, accenting the silky palate of nectarine, toast point and candied Meyer lemon zest flavors that linger on the finish. Chardonnay and Grechetto. Drink now through 2024.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
Centered upon the lush Apennine Range in the center if the Italian peninsula, Umbria is one of the few completely landlocked regions in Italy. It’s star red grape variety, Sagrantino, finds its mecca around the striking, hilltop village of Montefalco. The resulting wine, Sagrantino di Montefalco, is an age-worthy, brawny, brambly red, bursting with jammy, blackberry fruit and earthy, pine forest aromas. By law this classified wine has to be aged over three years before it can be released from the winery and Sagrantino often needs a good 5-10 more years in bottle before it reaches its peak. Incidentally these wines often fall under the radar in the scene of high-end, age-begging, Italian reds, giving them an almost cult-classic appeal. They are undoubtedly worth the wait!
Rosso di Montefalco, on the other had, is composed mainly of Sangiovese and is a more fruit-driven, quaffable wine to enjoy while waiting for the Sagrantinos to mellow out.
Among its green mountains, perched upon a high cliff in the province of Terni, sits the town of Orvieto. Orvieto, the wine, is a blend of at least 60% Trebbiano in combination with Grechetto, with the possible addition of other local white varieties. Orvieto is the center of Umbria’s white wine production—and anchor of the region’s entire wine scene—producing over two thirds of Umbria’s wine. A great Orvieto will have clean aromas and flavors of green apple, melon and citrus, and have a crisp, mineral-dominant finish.