Casanova di Neri
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When Giovanni Negri founded his Casanova di Neri winery in Montalcino in 1971, Brunello was still completely unknown worldwide. Thanks to him and his son Giacomo, this has changed fundamentally.
When Giovanni Neri found the estate for sale in the municipality of Montalcino, which later became Casano di Neri, it was still a mixed operation. Giovanni Neri was 48 years old at the time and was actually a grain merchant from Montevarchi in the Arno Valley south of Florence. Neri had a passion for red wine, including Sangiovese, but more for the Sangiovese from Montalcino than for the Sangiovese from the Chianti Classico of his homeland. At the time, Brunello from Montalcino was still a largely unknown wine and had only been granted DOC status four years earlier. At that time, there were 30 producers who did not yet have international status. None of this mattered to Giovanni Nero when he discovered Podere Casanova. He saw the enormous potential of this 200-hectare estate, which was so high up and had such good soil for Sangiovese, that he took the risk.
He planted vines and produced his first wine in the 1977 vintage. He called it „Vino Rosso dai Vigneti di Brunello“, as the name „Rosso di Montalcino“ did not yet exist at the time. The first „Brunello di Montalcino“ was bottled with the 1978 vintage and the iconic „Etichetta Bianca“ label was developed.
Finally, in 1981, the first harvest of the new Cerretalto vineyard took place, from which the famous single-vineyard Brunello from Casanova di Neri emerged. One year later, the estate's wine, the 1977 „Vino Rosso dai Vigneti di Brunello“, was launched on the market. In the meantime, the international breakthrough had been achieved and the wines of Casanova di Neri quickly became famous. the first vintage of Cerretalto was released in 1987.
Today, the winery, which is run by Giacomo Neri and his sons Giovanni and Gianlorenzo and has had a perfectly equipped winery since 2005, comprises 63 hectares of vineyards and 20 hectares of olive groves covering a total area of 500 hectares.
© Photos: Casanova di Neri
