The red grapes have finished their fermentation. They are pressed and let to rest in vats. The white wine is almost there. The grapes are turning into wine, although the fermentation has taken longer than usual this year.
Kategori: Wine production
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Weather leads to decrease in grapes and wine in Italy
Grapes dried up like raisins several weeks before harvest, crushed grapes after hail and grapes eaten by thirsty wild boar. The extreme heat and dry climate this year may give Italian wine producers a reduction in grapes and wine of about 15-40 per cent.
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Alone in the vineyard – a pleasure to toast by myself
Wine and a vineyard in Italy in a warm springsun is tempting. This time I am here be myself for a week. It is the first time. It is secluded. Far away from the village. Do I have the courage?
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Making wine with nude feet – an old dream come true
Have you ever dreamt of crushing grapes with your bare feet? Do you wonder what it feels like?
The thought of walking on newly harvested grapes bring notions of romance and tradition.
Nearly every year we have visitors at our vineyard who come to help us with the harvest. Some of them believe and hope that we foot-stomp the grapes. One is Tove.
From » I love Lucy». Shared by Giphy.com It is still done. Some places like in Portugal in the production of Port Wine. Others do it as a part of festival and for the attraction of tourists, like in the US.
Most wine producers use machines. So, do we. The grape skin needs to be crushed to release the juice, as well at the tannins, the color, and the aromas in the skins.
In a good year, we have thousands of liters of grape juice. It would need a lot of hours and labor if we were to only use feet.
As a winemaker, I still wanted to try. On our property, we have a small parcel of muscat grapes. They make about 50 liters of wine. It was my son, who then was pre-school, and myself. We entered a bucket with grapes, and stomped. But we soon got tired. I thought that was the end of project grape stomping
The year after, we had our 70-year old friend Tove visiting. It was her first harvest. While we were collecting the grapes, she told me about her dream that she had carried since youth. She wanted to try grape stomping. If there is one thing I believe life is about, it is to fulfil our dreams.
It was a warm day in the beginning of October. I found a plastic fermentation barrel with enough room for two ladies. We poured in newly harvested muscat grapes. Not too many, but a layer up until our ankles.
It was a unique experience.
The feeling from the naked feet in the sticky juice with soft grapes. Cooling and soothing. The smell of muscat releasing, as the grapes are crushed, and the sensation of the feet becoming soft as the foot of a child.
It became wine. The best of all, we had fun. Here you may see the film of Tove and I making wine with our feet. Are you tempted?
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The joy of pruning – the 2017 wine season has started
With newly sharpened scissors in my hand, I stand there in front of the vines. I feel uncertain. I know I need to do a major pruning of each plant. But it is an art to know how.
The sun is rising. There is frost on the ground starting to melt. Little tiny flowers are opening and blooming in the warmth of the late winter sun. Some of them reach my face. They are long-awaited. Soon the thermometer is going to show 15 degrees Celsius. It is in the middle of February.
The most important thing now is to prune. Almost all the branches are cut-off close to the vine. But where do I cut? I have done this before, but I still have plenty to learn. My friend Pierluigi Fioravanti is teaching me with great pleasure.
Most of the branches are soon gone. Some are pruned to give grapes in 2017, others first next year.
My biggest mistake is that I don’t dear to cut too much. But soon enough I am cutting away. Branches from last year fall to the ground making a brown layer, like a spider web. Small pearls of sap are blinking in the sun.
I am deeply concentrated. Every plant is unique and needs to be pruned in its own way. Pierlugi reminds me about the rules. – But sometimes we need to deviate from them, he says. It is about that gut feeling. It feels wonderful. Nothing else matters right now.
Pierluigi Fioravanti has pruned vines since he was a child. He is my teacher «il mio maestro». Most of the vines are from the 1940s. Some of them are so old that they just had their last harvest. Some seem to make it another year. But most of them still seem to give us several good harvests.
When the vines are pruned, we need to collect the branches. They can be grinded and be of use as compost or burned.
Now, we are waiting for spring to arrive and give life to the small buds remaining on the vines.
Here are some videos of the pruning: