Bolgheri wine 2020: harvest, the first step of a two year long journey, has been completed.
After two whole years we’ll be finally able to taste from a bottle the outcome of today’s hard work: a refined tuscan wine.
We are already enthusiastic at the sight of our wine vats filled with the product of the hard work carried on throughout the year.
We chose to grow our vineyards following the precepts of organic culture and to create “craft” products attentively taking care to all the production aspects in order to obtain a refined Tuscan wine.
Harvesting
We harvest manually, picking the grapes one by one. This allow us to make a first selection directly in the vineyards. We toss aside not fully ripened bunches and those grown on secondary vine-shoots and lateral shoots.
Bunches not fully ripened may give an unpleasant mouth drying sensation due to green/bitter tannins.
Furthermore, we make sure that all the grapes arrive undamaged at the cellar.
We collect them in small crates so that the weight of the grape itself doesn’t crush the bunches underneath. This way we can prevent juice leak which may undergo an uncontrolled fermentation.
The crates are taken to the cellar as soon as possible.
Bolgheri wine 2020 – Techniques in the cellar
Destemming
In the cellar bunches are destemmed and grape berries fall on the belt sorting table.
This is where we can check and sort every single one so that only the best ones will end up in the vats.
Once the vats are full, sugars are converted by yeast into alcohol by the process of fermentation. The more ripe the grape is, the greater the potential alcohol level in the wine; hence it is very important to harvest each kind of grape variety at its optimal ripeness point.
Ciliegiolo is an early ripening grape variety. We harvested it at the beginning of September.
The Cabernet Franc was then ready and finally, about one month later, we harvested Cabernet Sauvignon, which is the grape variety that takes the longest to ripen.
Each grape variety is vinified separately so that fermentation can occur with its own timing and characteristics.
Pump-over (also known as remontage)
During the process of fermentation, yeast convert sugar in both alcohol and carbon dioxide. The release of carbon dioxide pushes grape skins on top of the fermenting must. It is therefore necessary to break the “cap” a semi solid layer that needs to be kept wet in order to extract the colour and the aromas.
By doing such pumping-overs the must is transferred from the bottom to the top of the vat, and more pumping-over we are able to do during the same day, the higher the extraction.
The number and lenght of pumping-overs depends on the grape variety and on the the kind of wine you’re aiming to obtain.
Wine racking
After about a month of maceration on grape skins and many pumping-overs we were ready for racking the wine.
This is the process during which the liquid part is separated from the grape skins (at this stage called marcs, will sent out to a distillery where they’ll be used in the making of grappa). The liquid part is by now wine and is transferred in French-oak barriques and barrels.
Each wine variety is in separate barrels in order to refine according to their characteristics.
This is only the first step of a long journey that will lead us to our refined Tuscan wine Agapanto 2020, but it is important to start out right!!
In the meantime we suggest you to taste our Agapanto 2018, which you can order on our e-shop. We offer free shipping throughout Italy!
by Silvia Cirri and Linda Franceschi
