Cerreto Blanc 2021

Cerreto Blanc 2021

La Vinicola di Antonio Gismondi

The nose is marked by citrus (lemon zest), as is the palate: the citrus lingers, the minerality asserts itself. Cerreto, named in homage to the town where it was born, will be a good companion to seafood, shellfish, and raw fish. It is a lively and fresh white wine with a pale yellow color and an acidic, lemony nose with notes of white flowers: gardenia, jasmine, and orange blossom. Cerreto is made entirely from Malvasia di Candia vines, a grape variety also known as Uva di Cerreto. It is a very old local grape variety, even said to be indigenous, a clone of Malvasia di Candia. The vines grow on clay-limestone plots facing southwest. The harvest, carried out manually, undergoes a skin maceration of four or five days in stainless steel vats, followed by pressing and aging for six to ten months, also in stainless steel vats to preserve the purity of the fruit. No sulfites are added, no filtration.

Find out more

Antonio and Anabel Gismondi's azienda is located in Cerreto Sanita, in the Benevento region of Campania. A microclimate gives this area an almost continental feel: humid winds from the Tyrrhenian Sea collide with the first ramparts of the Apennine mountain range, causing condensation in the air and lowering temperatures, which are significantly cooler and more humid than on the coast. If we add a phenomenon of thermal inversion between day and night, common in the Apennine climate, the freshness of the wines from the Antonio Gismondi estate is nothing mysterious in this southern Italy, which is nevertheless known for its very hot climate. The estate is family-run: for generations, the Gismondi family has cultivated vines and made wine using the most traditional and natural methods, to which biodynamic techniques are added. For a long time, of the fifteen tons of grapes produced each year, one ton was reserved for on-site vinification for family consumption, the rest going to the local wine cooperative. It was the meeting with Massimo Marchiori and Antonella de Partida Creus [link] that decided Antonio and his wife Anabel to start producing natural wines at home from the entire harvest. The two-hectare vineyard is located between 350 and 380 meters above sea level, on clay, loam, and stony soils, with two-thirds facing south, planted with vines around six years old. The rest faces southwest and corresponds to the Pietre and Cerreto cuvées, with vines thirty years old. The grape varieties are Merlot, Freisa and Sangiovese for the reds, and Falanghina and Malvasia di Candia for the whites.