The Harvest: mechanical or Manual ?
The harvest is the most important period of the year
The harvest is the most important period of the year. It is the moment when the grapes, cultivated troughout the year, are collected and taken to the cellar. Here is where the vinification progress starts, in order to transform the must into wine.
The alcoholic fermentation, that starts in the steel tanks, will convert the sugar into alcohol, Co2 and heat.
Here’s the wine !
The harvest: from antiquity to today
In the ancient times, they used to celebrate the harvest by holding banquets. In ancient Rome it was common to celebrate the God Bacchus by throwing parties honouring Him, asking for good luck.
The old peasants relied firstly on the knowledge of the elders in order to decide whent the perfect harvest time was. In fact they were able to establish the level of ripeness of the grapes by simply tasting it!
Between the peasant’s families there was a sort of ritual that consisted in a challenge: the winner was the family that harvested the faster !
Of course at the time they didn’t have all the machines we have now. In the last few decades they introduced the mechanic harvest, letting the harvesting machines collect the grapes from the rows for us. This way the process becomes faster and more efficient. Thanks to the latest technological development, the quality level is comparable to the one obtained with the manual harvest.
But as the eldest always say,,, Slow and steady wins the race !
The harvest at Cantina Il Poggio
Here at Cantina Il Poggio we trust Luca, that knows this vineyards better than his home and personally takes care of each row, checking the ripeness and the health of the grapes. In addiction to his tastings there are some laboratory analysis, used to confirm or disprove Luca’s intuitions, which are the result of his studies in agronomy and winemaking but also of his great work experience.
We completely rely on the hands of the experts that took care of our vineyard an our rows for several years, using a type of harvest 100% manual. We do this not only to maintain our bond with nature, but also to be able to guarantee the highest quality and the excellence of our final products: machines indeed, despite teir higher productive speed, present a greater risk of damaging the grapes.
Althought the process today has changed a lot, the spirit of the harvest didn’t: it’s still a celebration that concludes weeks of hard work and years of sacrifice, made of stories and toasts in honor of the wine that will come.
Useful links:
Cantina Il Poggio
https://cantinailpoggio.it/en/cantina-il-poggio-english/#ivigneti
All over the world
https://conchaytoro.com/en/blog/7-harvest-traditions-that-remind-us-about-the-origin-of-wine/
Hand-picked or machine-harvested
https://www.winemag.com/2017/07/06/are-hand-picked-grapes-better-than-machine-harvested/
Post a Comment