Processes

HARVEST

We pick the bunches by hand, scrupulously selecting the best fruit. By excluding mechanical harvesting, we prevent the clusters and berries from being broken during harvesting procedures, incurring the risk of early fermentation.
The bunches are laid in baskets with a controlled maximum weight, to prevent the first ones deposited from being crushed by the excessive weight of those on the surface.

PROCESSING

The grapes arrive at the winery in Bins, which are immediately emptied inside a funnel-hopper. From here, the grapes are then run on a conveyor belt and transported to a top level of the winery where, through a drum-beater, the healthy grapes are separated from the defective ones, stalks, leaves and aggregates The waste will then be kept apart while the fresh raw material is gently squeezed and conveyed directly to the MACERATION + PRESSING for red grapes dedicated to the production of IL ROSSO and IL ROSA and to the PRESSING for white grapes dedicated to the production of IL BIONDO.

MACERATION

This is the process by which the grape skins remain in contact with the juice so that the juice takes on the proper coloring and nutritive consistency. Maceration takes place inside a FERMENTINO at a cold temperature of 0° C for:

• 8-10 hours for the production of IL ROSSO
• A few minutes for the production of IL ROSA

Inside the Fermentino, by gravity the skins tend to float while the must remains below Therefore, to facilitate the extraction of color from the skins and to ensure that the skins are in complete contact with the juice at all times, a RIMONTAGGIO is carried out, that is basically a stirring of the entire contents through a pump that sucks in the liquid from below and re-pumps it from above. This also allows for a slight breaking up of the grape skins to encourage greater release of color. This process is activated 1 time every hour for 15 minutes.

After the maceration process, the contents of the Fermentini are transferred inside the Press.

PRESSING

This is the process by which the grape skins and seeds are separated from the liquid.
This is done under a controlled atmosphere using a Nitrogen Press to prevent oxygen from coming into contact with the juice, which could activate oxidation and bacterial development.

FILTERING

This is the process by which the pressed liquid is clarified.
The juice then passes into a refrigerated tank (0° – 2° C) where it remains for about 1 day, during which time an initial natural filtration already takes place as the more solid particles in the juice tend to settle and precipitate to the bottom.
Next, the juice is passed through a cloth FILTER to complete clarification.

BOTTLING

The filtered juice is conveyed to the bottling machine and, still at cold temperatures, is bottled on a line dedicated to the available packaging sizes.

PASTEURIZING

The bottles are then conveyed directly to the pasteurizing line where the product remains for 15-20 min at 74° – 75° C.
A temperature check is carried out on each batch through an automatic probe.
The product is then slowly cooled and transported back to the bottling line to be labelled

LABELLING

Before being labelled, the bottles are washed again. Each label bears the lot number, with which the life cycle of the product can be reconstructed, thus enabling precise traceability.