Harvest 2025: Done & Dusted
The 2025 harvest is officially over! Now, all we have to do is make the wine….
Harvest time is chaos, and fun. Stuff breaks at the worst moment (give it a good whack), things get stuck (hit stop, try reverse, is it even turned on?) when the tractor arrives at the cantina with the next load of grapes. From the moment they are picked our grapes are typically selected (for the second time), de-stemmed and in a fermentation tank within 60 minutes.
We stop picking every 43 quintals (thats 4,300 kg) for a rest because 43 quintals will fill a 50HL fermentation tank. We stop for rain - and then we wait for the vines to dry out. That can sometimes take days or just hours. We watch the clouds roll in and count the quintals already picked - we need 8 more quintals, lunch will have to wait (now that is a huge risk with Italians), get those grapes in and under cover! We change tractors for the northern vines because they are planted closer together (for higher density and perhaps as a gift to future pickers - us in this case- just to mess with our heads!). And in between picking and sorting loads of grapes, we clean the baskets using a big dishwasher thingy (sorry for being technical). Niall’s sister would love watching this because as a child (and even now!) Niall hated loading and unloading dishwashers. And here he is volunteering. Karma has a great memory and a lovely smile…
Guests arrive for a walk-in tasting and, after a bit of shuffling, we find a way. At least it is 100% authentic!
We had one group turn up who wanted to taste the grape juice. They explained nicely that they don’t drink wine, didn’t expect to pay anything but would like to sample the grape juice. Niall explained a little less nicely that we were not going to stop our process, clear out equipment from the cellar for safety reasons and allow 4 random strangers to access our steel tanks to interfere with the fermentation process. Elia offered them a few grapes directly from the vines. Needless to say, they will not be joining our wine club!
We feel exhausted rereading this so its time for a rest. Tune in next time for Niall complaining about fermentation and punching over. Of course Paari knows that he is not complaining and is secretly thrilled that Elia and he have worked out what ‘svinatura’ (racking) actually means and not just how to do it!
The grapes are in, the press has survived, and so have we — barely. The team looks like we’ve aged five years and gained a permanent aroma of Sangiovese (which, frankly, we’re fine with).
Still, we did it! The cellar is full, the wine is already plotting world-domination, and we’ve started remembering what sleep feels like.
Here are a few short clips from the harvest for your viewing pleasure.
Until next time!
Toodles,
Niall & Paari