Castagnino Syrah Cortona DOC 2022 - Fabrizio Dionisio

The grapes are destemmed leaving the berries intact and conveyed into steel tanks at a controlled temperature, where, thanks to the native yeasts, the alcoholic fermentation takes place spontaneously. According to the characteristics of the vintage and the quality of the grapes of each single parcel of vineyard (which we all vinify, separately and according to different and personalized times and methods), a variable percentage of grapes can be processed in whole clusters. The subsequent maceration of the skins lasts, on average, from one to two weeks, always based on the quality of the grapes. Even the malolactic fermentation (of the juice only, because the wine obtained from the pressing of the pomace is never used for the production of our wines) takes place spontaneously, without inoculation of bacteria; a short period of aging follows (about six months) on the noble lees, in our old cement barrels finely restored by friendly craftsmen. The "Castagnino" was born from my desire to fully experience the potential of the Syrah vine in Cortona, declining it in all its different expressions; in this case, we wanted to produce a Syrah with completely different characteristics from those of the main company wine (Il Castagno, its "big" brother) and our Cuculaia cru; for this reason the harvest of the grapes is slightly earlier than those used for the production of our other red Syrahs (the freshness and acidity interest us, in this wine, more than the potency and concentration of sugars and extracts), and the "Castagnino" does not mature in wooden casks but only in concrete barrels.