Antinori Cervaro Della Sala Umbria IGT, Castello Della Sala

Description

Antinori Cervaro Della Sala is a blend of approximately 85% Chardonnay and 15% Grechetto, the proportion varies from vintage to vintage.

Antinori: An Italian Legend

Antinori has been producing wine in Tuscany for six centuries and was founded in 1385 when Giovanni di Piero Antinori became a member of the “Arte Fiorentina dei Vinattieri”, the Florentine Winemakers’ Guild. Antinori is probably most famous for producing one of the original Super-Tuscan wines, Tignanello, and has estates throughout Italy (Peppoli in Chianti and Castello della Sala in Umbria) and the rest of the world.

Cervaro by Antinori

In 1987, Antinori introduced its first Chardonnay-based wine, the 1985 vintage Cervaro della Sala, a name that translates as Stag of the Hall, and was taken from that of the 14th-century feudal owners of Castello della Sala, an Umbrian castle Antinori purchased in 1940. The wine has won numerous awards, including the coveted three goblets from Gambero Rosso (one of Italy’s leading wine magazines).

Antinori Cervaro della Sala Winemaking

Antinori Cervaro della Sala always has a proportion of Grechetto in the blend, which is usually around  Chardonnay 90% / Grechetto 10%.

The grapes for Cervaro Della Sala originate from fifteen to twenty-year-old vineyards surrounding Castello della Sala, at altitudes between 300 and 400 metres above sea level. The soil is rich in marine fossils with some clay.

The grapes were picked during the earliest hours of the morning in order to assure that the grapes which reached the cellars were entirely whole and healthy, not stressed by high daytime temperatures. After a brief four hour period of skin contact at 50° Fahrenheit (10° centigrade) the must went into stainless steel tanks before going into oak barrels.

Both the primary and the malolactic fermentation took place in barrel. After approximately three months, the Chardonnay went back into the stainless steel tanks to be blended with Grechetto (which had been fermented separately in stainless steel).

After bottling, the wine was aged in bottle for several months in the historic cellars of the Castello della Sala before commercial release.