Red Wine making at Vitivinicola Santoro 2010 part 1
Weighing the grapes
Once the grapes have been picked and the loaded buckets brought by Marco on his tractor to the winery, these full buckets are weighed, a necessary contribution to all the bureaucratic paperwork required to satisfy the IGT status. The next step in the process is the de-stemming and crushing both processes accomplished by the single machine. Some wines are fermented with their stems but not here as Marco believes the only thing that is accentuated by leaving them on the stems is an unacceptable level of astringency. The only addition at this pre fermentation stage is Potassium metabisulphite, fully accepted by organic winemakers and an important addition to ensure there is no over oxidation of the grapes or must.
The crushing of the grapes ensures that the skins are broken, no more to enable the yeasts to ferment all parts
Loading the de-stemmer/crusher
of the grape skins and pulp. The crushed grapes and first run juice are then piped directly into one of the eight 6-8000 litre stainless steel tanks in the winery. The yeast is chosen dependent upon grape variety but is not added until the 2nd day after crushing. The yeast is added and mixed into a large vat of juice then this is circulated and pumped into the large tank with the rest of the grapes and must. A small amount of starter enzyme and lievito (dead yeast cells) is added at this time to help kick start the fermentation process.
Grape picking Vitivinicola Santoro
Santoro grows a number of grape varietals including red Cabernets Sauvignon and Franc, Merlot, Montepulciano, Sussumaniello along with Verdecca and Fiano the main whites. The whites are picked first in early October with the reds being allowed to ripen further to increase sugar levels and thus potential alcohol.
A deteriorating weather picture makes timing tricky. Pick too soon and one risks less ripe grapes than one would like, though leaving it too long may allow heavy rains to dilute the sugar content. As it happened enough windows of opportunity ensured all were picked at optimum ripeness levels.
Marco calls up his picking team a day or two before and everyone sets to at 7.30am, picking right through ’till around 5-6pm with only 1/2 hour for lunch. While the days soon warm up, one morning on entering the Sussumanielo vineyard, the temperature is only showing 2C. In other words bloody cold! The Sussumanielo is trained on a fairly low trellis and thus is backbreaking to pick. Fortunately the other vines are trained on higher systems and so easier to collect.
There is much banter amongst the pickers. Most are of course local friends of the family, only me, my friend Andy and another resident English couple Martin and Eileen dilute the local blood! Amongst the Pugliese the favorite topic of conversation appears to be food, not surprising since the local produce is so good here. There is also much hilarity often conveyed in the local dialect so quite probably aimed squarely at us foreigners! Lunch is a genial affair with everyone bringing something to the table, cold meats, parmiggiana, tomatoes, cheeses, taralli, rosated vegetables of all sorts, etc, etc. It is only sad that we are not trusted with the local vino at lunch in case we spend the afternoon dozing under the vines!
The 2010 Vendemmia at Vitivinicola Santoro
Vitivinicola Santoro
Vitivinicola Santoro owned by father and son team Gennaro and Marco Santoro has been making quality red and white IGT Biological wines for many years on 6 hectares of prime Vale d’Itria land in Puglia.
2010 is proving to be a potentially very fine year following a hot and sunny summer, especially for the reds.
Santoro produces a number of reds including a Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot, along with a fascinating pure Sussumaniello (Cucciguagnelo), a grape only recently resurrected from virtual obscurity and finally a Montepulciano. These are all IGT status.
A good IGT white blended mainly from Verdecca and Fiano is also made which combines clean fruit flavours with a good level of acaidity for a south Italian white..
I shall be posting over the next few weeks descriptions and explanations of the grape picking (vendemmia) and wine making process as it unfolded.
Villa Puglia Recommended
Villa Puglia is featured in March 2012 CN Traveller in its article on the best Villas on the Adriatic
Villa Santoro is featured in Lonely Planet's "Guide to Puglia and Basilicata"
Sawday's "Special Places to stay in Italy"Puglia Location
Puglia is the recently rediscovered heel of Italy, the perfect destination for those who love the real Italy, its people, landscapes, wines and food.
Frequent direct flights from Great Britain, Europe and the US.
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