2018 Casa Raia Brunello di Montalcino

Just 2 km from Montalcino, at an altitude of 375 metres, we find the beautifully situated Casa Raia. The majority of the 4.5 ha estate was planted in the late seventies of the last century by Ludmilla Temertey who in 2006 handed over the baton to her daughter Kalyna and her husband Pierre Jean Monnoyer. Pierre Jean's motto is “il vino viene fatto in vigna” which loosely translated means that the vine determines how the wine is. The aim at Casa Raia is therefore to maintain the biodiversity and natural balance of the vineyards. The vineyards are sown with a variety of organic plants and flowers that provide natural nutrients to the soil. The entire estate is therefore organically certified.

For Pierre Jean, however, this does not go far enough. For example, the vines are pruned according to the cycles of the moon and work for fourteen days without interruption while the moon is on its downward path. All grapes are still cultivated and picked by hand. Even the French oak Allier barrels and Bourrassé corks used meet their strict standard for sustainability.
The result is therefore astonishingly good. These are beautiful, authentic, elegant Brunellos and IGTs of a very high level.

The Montalcino wine production area is bordered by the valleys of the Orcia, Asso and Ombrone rivers. Its shape is almost circular with a diameter of 16 km and an area of 24,000 hectares. The Bevilo production area is located in Orcia DOC, between that of Brunello di Montalcino and Nobile di Montepulciano, one of the most important areas for the production of great wines.

Although typically Mediterranean, the climate is due to the different orientations of our slopes and the modulation of the surrounding hills, with rainfall concentrated in spring and late autumn (annual average 700 mm.) The proximity of Monte Amiata (altitude 1740 m.) to the south-east, offers a natural protection against exceptional situations such as cloudbursts or hail. The estate, which is located on its own promontory 375 above sea level, is not affected by late fogs or frosts that can occur in the valleys. Winds blowing from all four directions guarantee the best conditions in all seasons. During the entire vegetative phase of the vine, the weather is predominantly warm with mostly sunny days that ensure a gradual and complete ripening of the bunches

After manual picking and selection in the vineyard by our own staff and again in the winery, the wines are aged in old French oak barrels in an underground cellar where the exchange of humidity is achieved through floor openings under the barrels. The wines undergo a natural malolactic fermentation before the winter and are then transferred to the oak barrels, leaving the lees behind. While natural evaporation takes place, the barrels are topped up and the aging process is closely monitored.

The Casa Raia Brunello then matures for 4 years in oak barrels, allowing natural settling without filtration. The Casa Raia Brunello di Montepulicano has an intense ruby red colour with purple hues in the glass. In the nose the wine is very complex and when the wine is opened after a good swirl we smell aromas of fresh fruit, elegantly followed by tertiary elements such as forest floor, humus and truffle. Pierre Jean Monnoyer is a Frenchman in Montepulciano, so compared to the other top houses the style here is less bombastic, less jammy. and more elegant with fresh fruit in the mouth, good acids and a fresh but very long finish. It is not without reason that Casa Raia belongs to our exclusive range because this is not just any Brunello but this is one of the best, also evidenced by the 96/100 points from James Suckling and no less than 18/20 points from Jancis Robinson (one of the highest scores from Jancis for a Brunello). In its early years, open the bottle a few hours in advance so that it can 'breathe'

ABOUT VINTAGE 2016

CLIMATE TREND: The 2016 vintage was an excellent year characterized by good rains in April and May which gave the plant good vegetative development. The summer months were characterized by the month of June which was particularly rainy, which particularly occupied us in phytosanitary control, but this also contributed to the growth of the branches, while the month of July was particularly hot, which favored the formation of the bunch and accelerated the veraison phase. The drop in temperatures in August favored the movement towards the clusters of all the substances necessary to obtain a product of excellent quality, from a polyphenolic and aromatic point of view. September was cool but sunny, guaranteeing an excellent harvest from a health and quality point of view. Vintage rated five stars by the Brunello di Montalcino wine consortium.