Type: White
Year: 2020
Format: 0.75LT
Denomination: Umbria IGT
Grapes: 100% Chardonnay
Alcohol content: 13.00%
Serving temperature: 10/12°C
Aging: Barrique 5 months
Pairing: Seafood appetizers, Seafood main courses, Meat appetizers, Seafood first courses, White meats
Country: Italy
Region: Umbria
Tasting notes
Nibbio della Sala has a light and bright golden yellow color with bright greenish reflections. On the nose it shows great complexity and finesse: notes of flint, citrus, cedar, ginger and aromatic herbs stand out. On the palate it is fresh, mineral, taut and characterized by a very persistent finish. A refined, vertical and mineral wine, with extraordinary aging potential.
Climate
The winter was generally mild and sunny while the spring was characterized by temperatures slightly below average and frequent rainfall. These weather conditions continued until the end of May and affected the flowering and fruit setting times, favoring a delay of about ten days. From June onwards the climate was generally dry. The vine, favored by the excellent water availability of the soil, maintained a good vegetative balance even during the hot month of August. The excellent temperature variations between day and night allowed for healthy bunches rich in aromatic precursors. The Chardonnay harvest for Nibbio della Sala took place during the second ten days of September. The particular exposure and altitude of this vineyard favored a slow and gradual ripening, so much so that it was the last parcel of Chardonnay harvested at Castello della Sala.
Winemaking
The winemaking cellar is built to take full advantage of the principle of gravity and allows the grapes to be managed and macerated without undergoing mechanical interventions resulting from pumping. The grapes were harvested entirely by hand in the very early hours of the morning so that the fruit reached the cellar intact and not stressed by the highest temperatures of the day. The must resulting from the maceration of the grapes on the skins at 10 °C for a maximum of two hours, reached the settling tanks by gravity for clarification before being transferred to new French oak barriques. The type of wood and toasting were specifically selected to enhance the varietal character of the Nibbio della Sala Chardonnay. The length of time spent in the barrique was 6 months during which both alcoholic and malolactic fermentation took place. The Nibbio della Sala was refined in the bottle for 30 months before being released onto the market.