Wine Advisor
Casanova di Neri, Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Nuova 2017
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Description
Tenuta Nuova is a pioneering and visionary vineyard project emboding the belief and passion of Casanova di Neri. Tenuta Nuova means new property; Tenuta Nuova is a place where nobody planted Sangiovese before; Tenuta Nuova is the will of Casanova di Neri to produce a powerful yet drinkable Brunello with a high ageing potential. The project began with the study of varied local microclimates and their optimal exposures. Through a cautious and passionate research Casanova di Neri has used the most sophisticated scientific investigations to determine the clones, rootstocks, cultivation practices, plant density per hectare and every possible particular to obtain excellent Sangiovese grapes.
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Monica Larner
This is one of my all-time favorite Brunellos, and although personal tastes are fluid and may change from time to time, there is something timeless and solid about this wine. It's like a touchstone. The Casanova di Neri 2017 Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Nuova is graced with a similar interlude of elegant rose or crushed flower that we saw in the annata wine. It appears more prominently here, and with more shape and focused intensity. Make no mistake, Giacomo Neri builds wines for pleasure and sensual impact, and this wine (helped by a hot growing season and 15% alcohol) ticks all those boxes. But it also shows floral elegance and sour cherry freshness that defies our expectations of the vintage.
Reviewed by: Eric Guido
The 2017 Brunello di Montalcino Cascina Nuova lifts up with a layered display of peppery herbs, musky plums, black raspberry, crushed stone, tobacco and smoke. It’s silky yet juicy, pliant and staining to the senses, offering violet and lavender tones balanced by cooling acids and hints of candied citrus. The 2017 really plays with the palate; it’s spicy, long and intense, and lightly structured yet classically dry. Balsamic herbs, salted licorice – it goes on and on like a spice box menagerie. An elegant pleasure bomb.
Reviewed by: James Suckling
Lots of red plums and cherries on the nose with a palate that has a full body, thick silky tannins and a fresh and flavorful finish. The tannins are in good balance against the ripe fruit. Fresh and transparent at the end. Drink or hold.
Reviewed by: James Suckling
Full-bodied, with muscular tannins supporting a ripe and transparent core of dark cherry, plum and blueberry fruit. Balanced and well done for the vintage. Chewy. Drinkable now but better in a couple of years.
Reviewed by: Eric Guido
The 2017 Brunello di Montalcino Cascina Nuova lifts up with a layered display of peppery herbs, musky plums, black raspberry, crushed stone, tobacco and smoke. It’s silky yet juicy, pliant and staining to the senses, offering violet and lavender tones balanced by cooling acids and hints of candied citrus. The 2017 really plays with the palate; it’s spicy, long and intense, and lightly structured yet classically dry. Balsamic herbs, salted licorice – it goes on and on like a spice box menagerie. An elegant pleasure bomb.
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.
