Corte Alla Flora of Montepulciano

Corte Alla Flora is extremely Modern!

The wines are forward, focused, and extremely polished!

From: http://www.corteallaflora.it

"The vines grown “a cordone speronato” and pruned short, the fruit of modern techniques but also of traditional culture, give their best yield here.

This is our idea of quality: 5,200 plants per hectare, thinning out and harvesting by hand, a maximum production of 60 quintals per hectare"

We tasted:

2003 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG RISERVA


Grapes used: Prugnolo Gentile 90%, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon 10%.
Vinification: hand-picked in perforated boxes, destemming, fermentation in stainless steel tanks at controlled temperature (max. 28° C), maceration for 20 days with repeated remixing, racked off the lees and pressed gently with pneumatic bladder presses. Malolactic fermentation in tanks at 20° C, transferred into barrels.
Alcohol content: 13.5% vol.
Refining/maturing: 24 months in Allier barriques, then 12 months in bottle.

2004 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG

Grapes used: Prugnolo Gentile 90%, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon 10%.
Vinification: hand-picked in perforated boxes, destemming, fermentation in stainless steel tanks at controlled temperature (max. 28° C), maceration for 20 days with repeated remixing, racked off the lees and pressed gently with pneumatic bladder presses. Malolactic fermentation in tanks at 20° C, transferred into barrels.
Alcohol content: 13.5% vol.
Refining/maturing: 18 months in Allier oak cacks, then 10 months in bottle.

Corte alla Flora - Rosso Toscano IGT Super Tuscan

Extremely new world!
Grapes used: Cabernet Sauvignon 50%, Merlot 30%, Prugnolo Gentile 20%.
Vinification: hand-picked with selection of the grapes, destemming, fermentation in stainless steel tanks at controlled temperature (max 28°C), maceration from 15 (Prugnolo Gentile) to 30 days (Cabernet Sauvignon), racked off the lees and pressed gently. The wine is made just by the grapes of the first phase of the wine-making. Malolactic fermentation in tanks.
Alcohol content: 14% vol.
Refining/maturing: 12 months in Allier barriques, then 12 months in bottle.

Giuggiolo - Red Wine IGT Toscana


Grapes used: Prugnolo Gentile 100%.
Vinification: hand-picked in perforated boxes, destemming, fermentation in stainless steel tanks at controlled temperature (max. 28° C), maceration for 10 days with repeated remixing, racked off the lees and pressed gently with pneumatic bladder presses. Malolactic fermentation in tanks at 20° C, transferred into oak casks.
Refining/maturing: 6 months in oak casks, then 6 months in bottle.

Giuggiolo - Bianco di Toscana IGT 2004

Technical card

Grapes used: Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.

Light, Fresh, and Fruity

Carmigliano

Crete- where the top soil in vineyards has washed away leaving bald spots where vines can't grow.











Owner of Carmigliano and Joe Best













Calanco- the red soil and rock that is typical of the area










Southwest facing vineyard soaking up the sun





















Pete M is 7 '6 to give you perspective of this barrel












Campo al Mori









A Village Winery

Located in the South Western side of Montalcino

The village was established in the 1100's

Currently around 32 people live in the village

1957 Carmigliano was purchased by the current owners
Quote of the Tour- "Robert Parker doesn't like me"-owner of Carmigliano

Changes in the cellar over time have moved from producing all wines in Slovenian oak to larger french oak barrels made by Gamba.

Rosso di Montalcino
All grapes are farmed to the standards of Brunello. When the grapes arrive in the cellar it is determined which wine they will end up in
Rosso di montalcinos only see about 6 months in oak

Tasting Notes-
03 Brunello Barrel sample
Concentrated with dark color. Classic nose of earth, dusty cherries, and anise. Fatter on the palate with vibrant acidity and lots of primary fruits. New world brunello in the best way.

04 Brunello Barrel sample- 'like judging a mans life at the age of 8"
Beautiful, fresh, espresso and red fruit. This is going to be a keep.

Cabernet Sauvignon Sant Antimo DOC 600 cases produced
Dark Fruit, rich texture, soft, easy drinking. California cab in a Italian leather jacket. A bit more soul and earth and only framed in light french oak.

Vitanza

Dinner and a winery tour with Rosealba Vitanza........

It's what I imagine entering the bat cave to be like. What looks like a very small guest house contains an elevator that brings you 80 meters under the hill to the completely high-tech winery.

She toured us through the cellar and allowed us to pick up some young and old vintages! The wines were all beautiful but the 2001 was really standing out as remarkable.

We tried Brunellos from 1997, 1998, 2001, 2001 Reserva and 2003.

Montalcino the Town

Enoteca

http://tv.winelibrary.com/2007/07/09/super-tuscany-wine-tasting-episode-272/

Check out the coolest wine show on the plant

Casanova di Neri

Facts shared by our tour improve guide:

Quote of the Tour: "Our wines are made in the vineyard"

After World War II Montalcino became one of the poorest places in all of Italy. By the 1970's 60% of the locals had left the area due to extreme poverty. "



























In 1971 Giocomo Neri's father established Casanova di Neri. Owning over 380 hectares of land the Neri family only cultivates about 50 hectares of grapes!

Vineyards were planted in the 70's and early 80's using extremely wide spacing with the hope of producing a high quantity of fruit. Since the tighter spacing has been implemented the focus has shifted towards concentrated, complex, and extremely high quality wines.

In 1978 Casanova di Neri bottled there first estate wine.

All Casanova di Neri vineyards are using organics and the cellar is build on a hillside to allow for a beautiful Gravity Flow winery built into a north slope. "we wouldn't plant vines there anyway"

Wild Yeast Fermentation is used when possible.

Grapes are trained lower to the ground to avoid frost in the early spring and late fall.

Cerroalto Vineyard:
Soil is alluvial gravel with extremely good drainage
Plant density is around 7000 plants per hectare
Always dry farmed as all Brunello is by Law
The water table has been measured at over 3000meters below the service!

Don't Forget! Casanova di Neri has a guest house! Max four people a night at 35 Euro per person/per night

2005 Rosso di Montalcino
The rosso is selected in the vineyard before the season is ever started. The yields are typically 40% higher than the Brunello. TN; Right red color, pure red fruit nose. Classic approachable rosso style. Tart dried cherry and acidity that could cut your tongue in half. Like really pure Chianti with chest hair.


2003 Tenuta Nuova Brunello di Montalcino
In mid may of '03 the temperature reached 103 degrees in the middle of the day a few times!
Leaning towards the red/purple colors. Dark rich fruit on the nose. This needs time to settle down. Ripe prune, raisin, chocolate on the know. Ripe and rich while retaining balance! Well made!

2000 Ceralalto Vineyard (single vineyard east of montalcino) Brunello
Dark Center with lightly browning edges. More complex nose with loads of white flowers and dark fruits. Blue berry and Raisin. Much more elegant. Long fine tannin with an extremely long finish

2004 Pietradonice Super tuscan 18 months in Oak
90% Cabernet 10% Sangiovese
Tannin and Oak wrapped fruit on the nose. Balanced while being broad on the palate. This wine is a sleeper! Chocolate, Vanilla, espresso. Napa cab in high heals. Only regulation of this DOC is that the grapes come from the Montalcino Area.

Our Second Stop Casanova Di Neri

Casanova Di Neri is GravityFlow!

Argiano