Case Corini ‘Centin’ Rosso 2018

Location: Italy, Piedmont, Asti

Winemaker: Lorenzo & Guido Corino

Grapes: Nebbiolo

Soil: Marls, Astiane sands

Winemaking: The bunches, which have been selected and collected in baskets,are sorted. Thanks to some natural yeast, spontaneous fermentation takes place in wooden barrels. During fermentation one sole fulling process ( batonage) is carried out. Wine fermentation can last from 6 to 9 weeks, then wine is aged in wooden barrels for about 30/36 months. No oenological intervention is applied during the cellar phase, not even any SO2 is used.

’Centin’: Earthy, age-worthy wine from 70 year old nebbiolo vines. Named for Lorenzo’s grandfather. Garnet, with complex spices of cardamom, cinnamon, and blood orange. 

From us at M&L: Sometimes we’re fortunate enough to experience, in the work of a person, nearly all that we value, promote and hope for with respect to wine. Lorenzo Corino was a true pioneer - even as the fifth generation of his family to grow and make wine. A curious, soulful and scientific mind who, even in his earliest endeavors, attempted to maximize his relationship to his land, its fruits and other plants, by adopting what we would now call ‘regenerative’ agriculture and natural winemaking.

Growing up in Costigliole d’Asti, Piedmont, he reflected on his emerging interest in pushing the comfortable boundaries of the wine nobility that surrounded him: “It was like a dream. You have to dream to grow up. Do not worry what people are talking about you. Mainly you have to dream to reach a specific goal.”

At the time of his passing in 2021 he had been lionized by the exploding natural wine community throughout Italy, and his influence reaches well beyond. He was the author of no fewer than 90 publications covering agriculture, cellar work, holistic viticulture, the science of fermentation, etc…

These are miraculous wines that simultaneously challenge and satisfy. They are pure, well wrought, and absolutely delicious.

From the Winemaker: It is located in the area of Costigliole d’Asti (250 m above the sea level), The vineyard was planted around 1950 with mostly different biotypes of Nebbiolo. The breeding type is mostly on espaliers. In the vegetative time,thanks to current wooden structures, the plants are located so as to avoid any topping and to make the leaves grow longer until the end of the season. The harvest season is one of the most difficult time of the year for our wines. The grape harvesting is done by hand by means of a strict grape selection.