Il Cascinone Avamposti Pinot Nero Ventura

An expressive, complex nose with wild raspberry and sour cherry aromas combined with darker, black fruits and a hint of spice. Ripe fleshy fruit is balanced by bright acidity. The finish is juicy and lightly savoury with soft, balanced tannins.

In the interest of transparency this isn’t a totally new wine from the cooler slopes of the Il Cascinone estate – we’ve been tasting it through its experimental stage for the last couple of years watching on as winemaker Carlo made tweaks here and there with each passing vintage. The challenge has always been to balance the light fruit of the Pinot Nero with typical Piemontese structure and spice, the fermentation and ageing processes have been nuanced until we’ve arrived here at the 2019 with the final formula an undoubtable success and the finished product an absolute delight. Two parcels from the Monferrato are selected with 50% of the grapes undergoing fermentation in stainless steel (20% whole bunch) with the remaining 50% fermented in large cask. After blending the wine has been aged in a mixture of large format oak (75%) and barrique (25%). It’s a wonderful surprise that a Pinot Nero of this quality and varietal character can be produced for this price – bright cherry fruit is beautifully backed up with chalky tannins and when you need it that subtle spice appears in the background to keep things interesting. This is a great value wine, it’s also hugely versatile being just at home on its own or with a pretty serious pan fried-duck dish.