[Our] White Vinification: Pressing - part 2

[READ THE PREVIOUS ARTICLE: [Our] White Vinification: Pressing - part 1]

Do you also adopt other measures?

For some years we have adopted a veritable pressing protocol that allows for the complete abandonment of the so-called pre-set loading programs to adopt customised programs, designed for our specific needs. To give you an idea of the improvement, we went from about 30 rotations for each load to a current average of 3. In the same way, even for the subsequent phases of the actual pressing, our machinery is set up to work according to a precise sequence developed by our technicians and consultants.

What does it consist of?

The white wines of Tenute d'Italia are treated with a procedure inspired by that of the great French white wines: we work in gradual increments, that is, we set a first pressing pressure which will be kept constant until the flow of must exiting the press has ended.

At that point, without deflating the chamber, we increase the pressure to get a new flow, and so on for a maximum of two more sessions. In this way we obtain the so-called free-run juice, absolutely the most precious must and the one that will be used to produce the most valuable wines, such as Pignoletto DOC Spumante Santerno Wines.

Is that the end of the pressing phase?

Absolutely not. From this first phase we obtain the absolute finest must (the free-run juice), but the process can continue. The procedure is simply repeated by applying higher pressures, obtaining the so-called second pressing, which is still quite precious and with great aromatic potential.If you want to completely exhaust the extraction potential of our grapes, you can finally proceed with a third and final cycle, the so-called third pressing (or torchiatura), whose quality level will however be significantly lower than the other two lots of must. Though, in certain cases, it is in fact possible to allow for the blending of the free-run juice and the must from the second pressing, the must produced by the third pressing will always be kept separate, to process it independently.