Antinori Castello della Sala Cervaro 2014
96 Points, James Suckling
"This is the full-treatment white from Italy and it always delivers. Aromas of cooked apples, cream, hints of toasted oak and peaches. Full body, bright acidity and tangy fresh fruit. Hints of yogurt and wood. Complex and truly great. Love the backbone of acidity that gives lovely form." - JS
From the Winemaker
Tasting Notes
A brilliant yellow in color with greenish highlights, the 2014 Cervaro shows a rich, complex, and fresh bouquet of hazelnut butter,vanilla,and white flowers. It is elegant on the palate and extremely savory, crisp,and vibrant. The delicate toasty sensations of the oak barrels blend harmoniously with the structure of the wine, fully bringing out the notes of both tropical and citrus fruit.
Vinification:
The picking of the grapes to be utilized for Cervaro, justas in the case of other great white wines, requires particular care. In fact, in order to avoid damaging oxidative processes and the extraction of undesirable tannins, the harvest takes place only during the early hours of the morning in order to insure that the grapes which arrive in the cellars are perfectly healthy and not stressed by high daytime temperatures. The attention given to the crop continues in the cellar thanks to the special design of the structure, conceived to take advantage of the force of gravity, avoiding mechanical intervention on the grapesand the must. The must,after an approximately four hour maceration on the grape skins temperature of 50° Fahrenheit (10° centigrade), goes into decantation tanks where it loses, in a natural settling, its impurities before going into oak barrels. Both the regularand the malolactic fermentation takes place in oak; it is the latter which regulates the process and determines how long the wine will remain in barrel. Normally, after five months all the lots of Chardonnay are ready to go into stainless steel tanks and be blended with the Grechetto, which has been fermented on its own and entirely in stainless steel. After bottling, Cervaro della Sala is given an additional twelve month period of bottle aging in the historic Castello della Sala cellars.
Historical Data
The name Cervaro comes from the noble family that owned Castello della Sala during the 14th century, Monaldeschi della Cervara. A blend of Chardonnay grapes and a small quantity of Grechetto make a wine that can age over time and represent the elegance and complexity of this unique estate. Cervaro della Sala is one of the first Italian wines to have malolactic fermentation and aging take place in barriques. The first vintage of Cervaro to be produced was the 1985 vintage.