Bolgheri wine 2020: the harvest has just ended.

Bolgheri wine 2020: the harvest has just ended, the first stage of a long journey that will end only in two years.

Only then will we be able to taste it in the bottle, transformed into fine wine, the fruits we have gathered today.

But we are already excited to see our vats filling up with the product of the hard work done throughout the year.

We have chosen to cultivate our vines according to the dictates of organic farming and to create “artisanal” products, taking care of the various aspects of production to obtain a fine Tuscan wine .

There are many aspects to take into consideration, starting with the collection.

The collection

Our harvest is done by hand, picking the bunches one by one, choosing already in the vineyard those to be discarded because they have not reached full ripeness, such as those of the secondary or female shoots, or that are damaged. The bunches that are not perfectly ripe can bring an unpleasant sensation due to a green or bitter tannin.

Furthermore, we make sure that the bunches and grapes arrive intact in the cellar. We collect them in small boxes so that the weight of the grapes themselves does not crush the bunches underneath, causing the juice to leak out and potentially undergo uncontrolled fermentation, and we take them to the cellar in the shortest time possible.

Bolgheri wine 2020: cellar work

Destemming

In the cellar the bunches are destemmed and the grapes fall onto a sorting belt. In this way they can be chosen and selected individually, to ensure that only the best grapes reach the vat.

Once the vats are filled, the grape juice begins to ferment thanks to the action of the yeasts inside, which transform the sugars present into alcohol. The riper the grapes, the more alcohol will be present in the wine; it is therefore very important to choose the most suitable harvest time for each grape variety.

The cherry tree It is the variety that ripens the fastest and is therefore the first one we harvested at the beginning of September. Then came the turn of the Cabernet Franc and finally, at the beginning of October, that of the Cabernet Sauvignon. Each of these varieties is vinified separately, so as to ferment according to its own peculiarities and timing.

Reassemblies

During fermentation, yeasts transform sugars not only into alcohol but also into carbon dioxide, which pushes solid parts like skins upwards. It is therefore necessary to break what is called the “cap”, a sort of compact crust that forms on the surface of the must and which tends to dry and harden.

To keep the skins wet and extract the aromatic part and the color, pumping over is performed, a technique with which the must is transferred from the lower part of the tank to the upper part. The more times the pumping over is performed in the same day, the more extraction we can obtain. The number of pumping overs to be performed and their duration depends on the wine you want to obtain and the variety vinified. 

WINEMAKING

After about a month of maceration on the skins, during which we mixed our musts several times through pumping over, we proceeded to the racking : that is, we have separated the liquid part, now wine, from the skins which at this point are called marc and which will be sent to the distillery.

The distillery will then extract further aromas and perfumes from the skins, creating grappa according to its own recipes.

Our wine, on the other hand, has just been transferred into French oak barriques and tonneaux, each grape variety separately, so as to refine each one according to its own characteristics.

We are only at the beginning of the long journey that will take our wine from the harvest to the bottle. Tuscan wine precious Agapanto 2020, but it's important to start well!

In the meantime, we invite you to taste the Agapanto 2018, which you can purchase on our online shop and which we will send to you with free shipping throughout Italy.

Silvia Cirri and Linda Franceschi