Wine Advisor
Casanova di Neri, Brunello di Montalcino 2021
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Description
Casanova di Neri proudly produces the White Label Brunello since 1978. Their passion and love for the land and their own distinctive Sangiovese joined together to make a wine that stands out for elegance, finesse, high quality and long ageing potential.
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Monica Larner
The Casanova di Neri 2021 Brunello di Montalcino shows dark fruit flavors of plum and soft berry. A glossy texture lends polish and shine to the mouthfeel, while the wine delivers medium-lean weight and moderate length with good brightness and freshness. Aging sees 42 months in large oak casks. This bottling represents the estate’s classic, multi-vineyard village expression, designed to balance consistency, accessibility and regional typicity. Production totals 94,800 bottles.
Reviewed by: Eric Guido
The 2021 Brunello di Montalcino is an understated beauty, mixing dusty rose and lavender with shavings of blood orange and black cherries. It is surprisingly juicy yet elegant and refined, as ripe wild berry fruits slowly drench the palate in primary concentration. Structured and dramatically long, the 2021 finishes spicy and intense with nuances of citrus, clove and licorice. The complexity here is off the charts and the energy is incredible.
About the Producer
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.
