The production

The production phases follow the procedures and values that inspire our work in the vineyards. Wines ferment with indigenous yeasts and save their characteristics thanks to a careful low-temperature technique that allows to limit the use of sulphites well below the Demeter rules.

When the Cortese grape reaches the correct ripening level it is selected twice: the first time directly in the vineyard by hand harvest, and the second one in the wine cellar on the selection table. Here the best bunches are separated from the others and the grapes are put in the automatic presses.

These machines guarantee a soft pressing and light musts, and they prevent the extraction of brown mixtures caused by an excessive pressing of the skins, that would give a bitter taste. The must obtained is then put in stainless steel tanks where the controlled-temperature fermentation begins, made with indigenous yeasts that intensify the typical scent of our grape and produce expressive peculiar wines. Once the alcohol fermentation is finished the wine is left on the lees for a variable time before it is bottled: a couple of months for our Gavi DOCG, one year for Gavi DOCG Riserva and up to two years for Gavi DOCG Pisé.

The Barbera grape, that gives origin to our Piedmont biodynamic red wines Piemonte DOC Barbera and Piemonte DOC Barbera Largé, goes through a different type of fermentation called “emerged cap”, during which the must stays in contact with the skins for about ten days. By pumping over, which means wetting with pomaces the cap that emerges as a result of fermentation, colour and tannins are extracted.

Once the alcohol fermentation is finished, if the vintage is good, a quick maceration is done, leaving the wine in contact with the skins for some days, which helps a better extraction of mixtures and gives the wine more character. The following step is racking, separating the liquid part (flower wine) from the waste pomace cap. The flower wine goes through malolactic fermentation, that softens the vigorous sourness of Barbera; after the pouring, necessary to have a clear product, the wine stays in controlled-temperature stainless steel tanks until it is bottled.

This is how our Gavi and Barbera reach our customers’ tables, through several phases that are always the same and nevertheless every year different, as Nature decides.

Clara Milani, oenologist at Tenimenti Rossi Cairo