Hortulus

Aged for 19 months in French oak tonneaux

Leccio Basso

Guyot

Grapes are picked by hand in small boxes. Alcoholic fermentation is spontaneous with natural yeasts in 1 ton vats. The extraction of color and tannins is facilitaed by punching down. Maceration of skins is occuring very delicately: Berries are falling from the destemmer directly into the vats without passing through a pump or tubes, hence remaining intact and crush solely due to the weight of berries themselves. Malolactic fermentation takes place in neutral barriques.

A very hot and dry year with high temperature peaks. Together with spring frosts, many wineries suffered dramatic loss in quantity. Castagnoli luckily avoided frost damage, due to the relatively high altitude of our vineyards. Despite one of the driest vintages of the last fifty years, the soil of Castagnoli, farmed organically since decades has produced very concentrated, fruity wines with lots of character.