HARVESTING
Weather conditions permitting, the harvest should be carried out when the grapes are perfectly ripe. This may vary from one variety to another: for example, Cabernet grapes are ripe 10-15 days after Sangiovese. When harvested the grapes should have a good balance between acidity, which makes the wine fresh-tasting, and sugars, which will turn into alcohol. The right level of ripeness also means the grapes have high levels of polyphenols, allowing the wine to be aged in wood.
Before removing the bunches form the vine, we must make sure the grapes are in perfect condition: perfectly ripe and healthy with no mould or any other defects. Damaged grapes might spoil the other grapes in the cases, and the quality of the wine would be affected.
The grapes are harvested by hand, cutting the bunches one by one, without ruining the grapes or the branch to which the bunch is attached. The bunches are laid in perforated cases so that if any grapes are squashed and lose their liquid, it will drain out instead of fermenting.
The grapes are then taken from the vineyard to the winery, which must take place quickly since harvesting takes place at a warm time of year and the heat might start up fermentation earlier than expected. To make good wines, fermentation must begin after the grapes have been crushed. Also, once the cases are on the trailer, the trip from the vineyard to the cellar must be smooth, avoiding holes in the road, since the grapes are fragile and can easily be damaged by bouncing about in the cases, in which case they will be unsuitable for making into good wine.

VINIFICATION
Once the grapes arrive in the winery they are unloaded into a vat and then dropped down in a continuous mass into the destemmer. This machine removes the stem from the grapes and crushes them to remove the juice form the skins.
The resulting must is placed in stainless steel vats at a controlled temperature where fermentation and maceration take place. During this phase which may last from 10 to 20 days, the must is in contact with the grape skins which give the wine its colour and body. The must is pumped over twice a day to facilitate the process.
Pumping over consists of bringing up the must from the bottom of the vat and pouring it back in on top, using an external pipe, bringing the must into contact with the skins floating on the surface. Occasionally pumping over is carried out “in the open”, during which the must falls into an open tub before entering the external pipe. This allows it to receive plenty of oxygen.
The next phase is devatting: each vat is emptied and the must, which is now wine, is placed in another vat while the refuse (skins soaked in must) is sent to be pressed. After pressing the refuse is sent to the distillery.
Now the wine must complete the phase of malolactic fermentation, which usually happens by the end of December, after which the wine is ready for ageing.
During vinification samples of the must and wine are regularly taken for organoleptic and chemical analysis, which monitors the quality according to the Chianti production regulations.

AEGING
After vinification the wine must be aged or matured. This process takes place either in stainless steel vats or in wooden barrels of varying sizes and features.
Wines that do not undergo a long ageing period are usually aged in stainless steel vats.
The right choice of wooden barrel is vital for important wines with particular flavours and aromas which are typical and enhance their quality: small 225 litre oak barriques, in which the wine has more contact with the wood and absorbs its aromas; medium-sized 500 litre tonneaux, and lastly 1000 or 2000 litre barrels. According to the capacity, wood, and number of times the container can be reused, each barrique, tonneau or barrel gives the wine different flavours and aromas.
The length of ageing is equally important, and may be months or years. This is determined by the quality of the vintage, the grape varieties and the type of wine desired.
In this stage a good wine may become an excellent wine.

BOTTLING
After the ageing period, the wine enters the final phase of bottling. The wine is first filtered and then bottled, and may be aged in the bottles for a further period.
The choice of cork is of vital importance. Our winery choice is natural cork.
When the wine has been aged in the bottles is can be tasted. To enhance the features, the bottle must be uncorked at least an hour before, pouring the wine into a decanter so that it can breather and release it personality.
Chianti wine has an alcohol content of 12.5-13.5% vol.