[Our] White Vinification: Harvesting - part 1

We have already had the opportunity to introduce the theme of the colour of wine, recognising its origin in a real choice that the producer makes in the very first stages of winemaking. After our brief introduction, in which we introduced the concepts of white and red vinification, we will now begin to go into the details of each of them, illustrating the different stages of development and the specific characteristics.

To do this we will have the pleasure of benefitting from the collaboration of the production manager of Tenute d'Italia, Mr. Ivan Lentini, who will accompany us on a journey to discover how wine is made: starting from the story of his work in our cellars in Linaro.

Hi Ivan! First of all, thank you for your willingness to help us get a deeper understanding of the great topic of wine production. We have already had the opportunity to mention to our readers the two main wine-making techniques, white and red vinification. Now we hope you will be able to tell us all the details. Where do we start?

Hello everyone! I would like to start by saying that the theme we are about to deal with is really very broad, and in addition to the general distinction between the production of white or red wine, it is always necessary to specify that each particular production follows a precise, absolutely singular logic, which depends precisely on the product that you intend to produce. This means not only reserving specific stratagems for each variety of grape, but also applying different stratagems for the different lots of the same type of grape that we want to allocate to different products.

Could you give us an example?

Of course! Think of Pignoletto: in 2019 we decided that we would make a sparkling version, and this led to harvesting the grapes slightly earlier than normal, before the fruits had fully ripened. In this way, we ensured not only a greater finesse of the aromas, but also a better acidity of the must and a lower alcohol content, due to the lower presence of sugars in the grapes. Since two fermentations are required for a sparkling wine (the alcoholic fermentation and the re-fermentation which gives the effervescence) an alcoholic degree that starts off too high could in fact have significantly compromised the pleasantness of the finished wine.

[TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT INSTALMENT]