2021 Linfa Syrah Cortona BIO, DOC ( 100 % Syrah)
2021 Linfa Syrah Cortona BIO, DOC ( 100 % Syrah)
Linfa was born from the desire to explore a different dimension of Syrah, yet another version in which this vine can be interpreted and declined, in red vinification (yes, because we also vinify it in white... and thus our beloved Rosa del Chestnut and Bolla Galeotta ). After Castagno (the iconic wine of our company) and Cuculaia (our cru) which refine for a long time in our barrique cellar, partly in wooden barrels of different sizes made for us by friendly master coopers, and partly in old barrels of cement always belonged to our cellar and perfectly refurbished through the patient work of priceless craftsmen, acquiring extraordinary elegance, depth and complexity, and the "Castagnino", elevated entirely (for a shorter period) exclusively in cement barrels, for safeguarding its naked, wild and fragrant profile, favoring varietal identity, immediacy and ease of drinking over complexity, I felt the need to discover how my Syrah could express itself by being born and growing in symbiosis with another material that fascinates me , like wood and cement, and which rightfully belongs to the most ancient and natural history of wine... and of man.
After the usual, indispensable for me, two-three years of tests and experiments, we decided to work entirely in some jars of the best terracotta from Impruneta and other parts of Italy a small batch of grapes, coming from the same plots as our vineyards destined to form the mass of wine from which, every year, we obtain Castagno and Cuculaia, our most complex and advanced wines.
There, after the harvest (usually in the last ten days of September, in search of the maximum, optimal ripening of the grapes) the alcoholic fermentation takes place, after destemming the grapes with intact berries (according to the characteristics of the vintage, in a small part, even whole bunch), punctuated by rigorously manual pressing, as is the malolactic process.
And in the same jars the wine macerates on the skins (which protect it from oxidative risk) for a few months, until racking.
Then, after a short period of homogenization in cement barrels, the Linfa is bottled to undergo a further period of refinement in the bottle, of approximately one year. Her name, so evocative, was born from the casual, and beautiful, discovery of how this is the acronym of the names of my family members, my wife Alessandra, my children Isotta , Lavinia and Niccolò , and me .
Already in love with this latest "son", I am convinced that it will still be able to grow, and well, perhaps even making use of the contribution of reservoirs obtained from further, different natural, ancient materials, derived from clay, therefore from the earth, be it terracotta, ceramic, cocciopesto or natural cement.