VINEYARD | "Come Se" comes from a few rows that were planted by Caterina Carli's father in the 1990s. If Caterina's father was convinced of that choice, Caterina still shows her perplexities today, not on the good quality of these grapes, rather on the characteristics that merlot offers in the glass. It all comes from a small vineyard facing south-east, located at an altitude of 230 metres. The yields do not exceed 30 quintals/hectare, the soil is of clayey origin, but there are also calcareous and sandy sediments and gives birth to wines of character, authentic and very long-lived.
PERSON | Caterina Carli was born in 1972, exactly when the Il Colle company was born, founded by her father. Her life has always been surrounded by vines and wine, not just a job for her but a great passion. Caterina always repeats "I make wine for a living, while the grapevine is my great passion" thus indicating the importance for her of being in the vineyard, among the rows, looking after the plants, bunch by bunch. The great guide and inspiration came from Giulio Gambelli who worked here with the shared idea of best enhancing the Sangiovese which would later become Rosso and Brunello. Her relationship with Merlot is not quite the same, but Caterina has continued to produce a few bottles from those rows planted thirty years ago by her father. "I let it mature for a long time, over nine years, so it loses its primary characteristics, its masculinity and approaches more my idea of wine. The name? Come se (as if...) it was a woman! Because time is a gentleman and to me, after years the wine acquires elegance, finesse and harmony of the wines that I like."
WINE | More than 2,500 bottles were produced in 2008, but currently 800 remain on the market. It is a wine that is obtained from very low yields, fermentation takes place in steel vats using indigenous yeasts. Then the very long maturation in large Slavonian oak barrels for nine years. At this point the permanence in the bottle is also long, in this case the wine was bottled in February 2019. The sulphur content is reduced to a minimum. Garnet red in colour with only slight orange reflections. The nose is immediately striking. In a blind tasting we would never think it a 15-year-old wine: the fruit is still alive and vital, a red fruit which then reveals notes of undergrowth, licorice, roots and a nice peppery touch. The mouth is energetic, with a still bright acidic freshness; flavour is not lacking and this is why the wine has a respectable extension. Textbook persistence and very clean finish.
