Brunello di Montalcino DOCG

Casanova di Neri's straight Brunello di Montalcino DOCG is the estate's classic annata bottling, labelled White Label (Etichetta Bianca) and distinct from the single-vineyard Cerretalto, from Tenuta Nuova and from the Giovanni Neri bottling. It was the estate's first Brunello, made in 1978 from three vineyards in the north-east of Montalcino.

Like all Brunello it is made exclusively from Sangiovese, and the estate states the wine is 100 per cent Sangiovese. Fruit is selected by hand bunch by bunch before de-stemming, then passed over an optical sorter. Fermentation is spontaneous with no added yeasts, and maceration runs 23 days in temperature-controlled conical steel vats with frequent pressing to work the cap.

The appellation rules require a minimum of two years in oak and at least four months in bottle, and the wine cannot be released before 1 January of the year following the end of the fifth year after harvest, so any Brunello reaches the market with substantial age already behind it.