THE VINEYARDS

The total expanse of our vineyards is about 40 hectares with an average altitude of 300 meters above sea level of which 37 hectares are red grapes such as Sangiovese, Lanaiolo and Colorino, and the rest are white grapes like Trebbiano Toscano and Malvasia Bianca.

The exposure of the vines is south-south-west and south-east with a typical sub-humid/humid and rainy climate with the wetter season being in November and the dryer in July which often can be completely without rain. The average rainfall is 870 millimeters.

The earth, of medium consistency with a tendency that runs towards clay, is normally deep and fertile. The density of the planting goes from 4,500 to 5,500 plants per hectares in a system raising the plants on barbed wire, doubled upside-down.

The average age of the vine is between one and 25 years of age, taking into account the newly planted vines of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.

Every single vine is followed with meticulous attention during the year. We begin in November with pruning, by which we regulate the number of new shoots per hectare and per plant (maximum eight shoots per plant with a total of about 28,000 shoots per hectare), followed by the first trimming in June, cutting away the tops and the sprouts of the vines, finalized by the rejuvenation of the foliage, after which begins the thinning out or the “green harvest” during which the bunches of grapes are selectively picked in order to create and equilibrium between the green part of the plant and the fruit, in a way to proportion the production of the fruit to the leafy part of the plants.

Next a second trimming takes place, and the plants are further thinned out, in order to allow the plants to receive greater amounts of air and light during their ripening rendering a better quality of fruit. In the month of October the manual picking begins with the grapes being placed in plastic crates and also the selection of the bunches in the cellar, based on their degree of their maturity but also on their sanitary conditions.