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Summer 2011
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Lots of water in early Summer and a heat wave in August...
brought us a very early harvest. On Sunday, August 21st
we started the 2011 harvest, picking Barbera Bionzo grapes. A very unusual
early start for Barbera. The south facing steep Bionzo vineyard sight with
its 45 years and older vines always requires an early harvest, but August 21st
is a record. Important to us is that the fruit is beautiful. Already when
crushing the grapes we could smell marvelous fruit aromas that promise an
exciting harvest and vintage. We are harvesting the whites and Moscato and
most likely have to start with the first Nebbiolos at the beginning of
September. In Tuscany we have a similar situation. Beautiful ripe Vermentino
and Sangiovese fruit, that we have been harvesting since August 22nd.
The first taste of the 2011 vintage you may try with the 2011 Moscato that
will go into the market at the end of September.
Enjoy!
Bruno, Carlo and Giorgio Rivetti and the La Spinetta Team
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A word from Giorgio
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The excitement about harvest….
This is definitely the most exciting time of my work, the
harvest. Hard to believe, but this is my 35th
harvest and one might think that after 35 years this time of
year has somewhat turned into a routine, but it has not.
This time excites me as much as it did 35 years ago. Perhaps
I am not as scared as I was in the beginning, yet I still
get adrenaline rushes when we pick and crush the first
fruit. When I taste and smell the most. Every vintage is
different and a challenge. My ambitious goal is to harvest
top quality fruit and to turn it into top quality wine.
It probably has been 30 years that I actually picked the
fruit myself. Today all my energy goes into checking the
ripeness of the fruit and to decide when to harvest which
vineyard or even which section of a vineyard. My sister and
her team will do the actual picking of the fruit and the
transport to the winery. I oversee the crushing and the
first fermentation. I taste and smell and decide when it is
time to stop with the maceration in the roto fermentors.
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I make sure all logistics of harvest work and cellar work will
coincide.
Whether a harvest is early as the 2011 harvest or not, between
Piedmont (Moscato, Barbera and Nebbiolo) and Tuscany (Vermentino,
Sangiovese and Colorino) we always have 6 weeks of picking, crushing
and fermenting fruit, 6 weeks of hard work, little sleep and intense
concentration, but also 6 weeks of excitement, passion and pure
pleasure.
Giorgio, the farmer
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Vineyard flora and fauna
At our first Hands-On Day last September, some of the
hard-working One Liter Club harvest helpers showed our
vineyard manager Giovanna bunches of Moscato grapes that
looked like someone had nibbled at them. Not to worry, she
said, that was the birds. But didn’t she mind the birds
eating the precious grapes? She answered with a smile: That’s
ok, they only take a little, and they help us a lot. That’s
their reward. This sort of give and take is the reality of a
healthy vineyard, and a wise vineyard management.
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There
is more than just vines in a vineyard: a variety of plants and
animals live here, too – some more welcome than others of course.
One
way to deal with pests is to use herbicides and insecticides, which
unfortunately is often the choice people make. But what is a pest to
us, the vineyard owners, is maybe dinner to some other creature,
birds or other insects. In relying on their collaboration, we can
avoid the use of a large amount of chemicals, which will kill not
only the ‘pests’ we are attacking, but also a great many other
living beings of which we might not even know the name, let alone
what service they provide for the balance of the local ecosystem.
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Assassin bugs, ground beetle, minute
pirate bugs, braconids and
trichogramma wasps – these are just
some of the tiny predators that
feast on the caterpillars and other
creepers that might attack our vines.
Also larger creatures are useful in
the vineyards. Sheep are a common
sight around vineyards from Alsace
to New Zealand: they are natural ‘lawnmowers’,
munching their way through the weeds
and excess cover crop between the
vines, as well as providing
fertilizer for the soil. In areas
where the birds are becoming too
greedy, falcons are sometimes kept
nearby that will scare off the
smaller birds. |
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Also
the flora of the vineyard plays an important role in keeping a
balance. A variety of flowering and non-flowering plants may grow
between the vines, helping to attract our friendly neighborhood
predators by providing them with food and shelter. Roses are a
common sight at the end of the vineyard rows: as they are prone to
be attacked by the same pests as the vines themselves, they can
serve as an early warning system – although a watchful eye on the
vines themselves is definitely more useful.
Cover
crops fulfill other crucial functions in the vineyard ecosystem:
they improve the fertility of the soil by adding organic matter as
they decay, and may even specifically invigorate the growth of the
vines – certain plants such as legumes and clover are experts in
converting or ‘fixing’ the nitrogen of the air into ammonia, which
can be readily absorbed by plants through their roots. Nitrogen is
of course an important nutrient, or fertilizer, for the plants.
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Cover crops also keep erosion in
check (a vital issue on steeply
sloped vineyards) through holding
the soil together with their roots
and reducing the velocity of
raindrops splashing on the ground,
which also helps to keep the soil
loose and aerated. Even for the
farmer this is more practical:
walking on a rain-sodden patch of
cover crops is still feasible, while
doing the same on naked wet clay
soil would be very difficult. And
during dry spells, there will be
less dust. A well-kept vineyard is a
small community of plants and
animals where a little generosity
towards the neighbors will yield the
great reward of healthy grapes, fit
to make wonderful wine. |
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One Liter Club events in 2011…
Hands-On
Day July 7th 2011
It may
seem as if La Spinetta has a direct line to the weather gods: also the
latest La Spinetta One Liter Club Hands-On Day on July 9, 2011 was held in
glorious sunshine. Twenty-one One
Liter
Club members came to our winery on a beautiful July weekend to help with the
green harvest, and join us for a day of celebration.
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The green
harvest is done in midsummer when the grapes
are still unripe, hard, grass-green berries,
though already filling out into bunches. We
were working in our
Campe
Barolo vineyard, where the Nebbiolo grapes
were already hanging heavily in their
characteristic shape of a long middle strand
with two smaller side bunches or ‘ears’.
Green harvest is a method to control –
meaning reduce – the yield of a vine and a
vineyard. At this point in the growing
season, if some of the fruit is removed, the
vine will not be able to produce more
bunches, and so it will concentrate all of
its efforts into the remaining |
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fruit, resulting in more flavourful grapes.
Simply put, a vine plant can only process a
certain amount of nutrients and produce a
certain amount of flavour compounds. Having
more fruit means distributing this amount of
flavour between more grapes, which are then
plumped up with more water. This in turn
will mean diluted grape must to produce wine
from – more, but more insipid and weak wine.
Not the sort of quality that La Spinetta is
aiming for.
At La Spinetta, we are happy to produce a
smaller amount of wine of greater quality,
and therefore, doing a rigorous green
harvest is an important step in our
winemaking process. We realized just how
strict our yield control actually is when
one year, a fellow winemaker in the area
asked us if we could help out with their
green harvest, as they were short a few
hands. We were happy to do this favour to
our neighbors, and sent over a few of our
skilled vineyard workers for a couple of
days. To our surprise, they came back to us
on the second day:
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used to the La Spinetta way, they had trimmed the grape bunches in the same
thorough manner as they would in our Barolo and Barbaresco vineyards,
resulting in a far greater yield reduction as our neighbours were used to…
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Green harvesting is indeed an activity that requires skill
and good judgement. The actual cutting of
the grapes is a simple task, the only
necessary thing to remember is not to touch
the grapes that are to remain on the vine:
these are covered with a fine layer of silky
dust that protects the fruit a little from
the sun’s UV-rays. What is difficult with
the green harvest is to decide how much to
cut, and where. Simply counting the bunches
is not enough, one must also consider the
size and vigour of the vine for example: a
hunched, gnarly grandfather of a vine will
naturally have a limited production, for
example. This is quite a lot of information
to consider before making a decision – and
quickly.
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But it is made for every single vine in the La Spinetta vineyards, because
the work in the vineyard is the most important, and is only enhanced, but
never replaced by the work in our cellars.
So we worked with Giovanna and her team along the lines of
tall green vines until the sun was hot up in the sky, and it was time for
lunch. Like the vineyard workers of old, we had our lunch
at the
ciabòt, the little stone hut up in
the vineyard that is a typical sight in the Langhe hills.
We refreshed ourselves with delicious Piemontese snacks and of course, La
Spinetta wines, and enjoyed the good company and conversation, before taking
a deserved afternoon break.
As the sun
started to set, we met up again, this time at the new winery of La Spinetta,
the Contratto cellars at Canelli. After taking a tour of the beautiful
historical cellars, where the new
spumante wines of the La Spinetta portfolio are resting like sleeping
beauties until their full
maturation, we concluded the day with a festive dinner in the elegant dining
rooms of the winery.
Another wonderful opportunity to meet our One Liter Club members – we are
already looking forward to the next one!
The next La Spinetta One Liter Club Hands-On Day will be held after the busy
harvest and quiet winter season, in the Spring of 2012. For more information
please contact
alessandra@la-spinetta.com
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Cooking Piemontese with Giovanna
Rivetti
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Giovanna Rivetti was born in 1947.
She is our "vineyard manager" and our "in-house chef". She
learned the work in the vineyard from her father and the
work in the kitchen from her mother. Both parents taught
Giovanna skills that until today are great assets to La
Spinetta.
In each newsletter Giovanna shares one
of her secret recipes with us. Today she is teaching us how
to make another typical, yet very simple Piemontese
antipasto that is called:
peperoni arrostiti
ripieni al tonno (tuna filled roasted bell peppers).
You will need (recipe for 6 people):
3 nice and big bell peppers (ca. 500 gr each), 2 eggs, 250gr
top quality canned tuna fish in oil, 2 anchovy filets , 1
table spoon of fresh lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, 10
gr of parsley and 10 capers
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Roast the bell peppers for 40 minutes at 180 degrees in the oven.
Remove from the oven, let the vegetable cool off. Remove skin and
all seeds inside. Dry peppers a bit and cut each in 4 equal pieces.
Place all 12 pieces on a serving platter.
For the filling (ripieno): cook 2
eggs and use the yolk only to mix with the tuna, capers and a bit of
parsley. Use olive oil to smoothen the paste. Fill the pepper with
the “ripieno” and garnish with more parsley. Add olive oil, if
desired.
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“Peperoni ripieno” go very well with our Vermentino.
Buon appetito!
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Anything new at La Spinetta
www.contratto.it
Have a look and check it out. Anybody visiting La Spinetta in
Piedmont should not miss to visit the marvelous old cathedral
cellars of Contratto winery in Canelli. Part of the Unesco world
heritage, this cellar is unique in Italy and nicely represents
almost 150 years of wine making.
To book a visit, please e-mail to Alessandra:
alessandra@la-spinetta com
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Bicycle wine tours… a great way to see the area and to burn a bit of the
calories…
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Cycling is a popular sport in Italy, and not
only in the cities of the flat Po plain like
Parma and Ferrara, where old ladies are
cycling to the market across flagstone
pavements, immaculately turned out in fur
coat and high heels. The competitive
cyclists indeed prefer the more demanding
tracks that wind across the hillsides, from
the Northern girdle of the Alps all along
the mountainous spine of Italy. The varied
terrain of flat plateaus and ascents and
descents of various degree make for
interesting and challenging tracks that
Italy’s sport cyclists are delighted to
explore. |
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To say nothing of the beautiful views that greet the cyclist time and again
along his route.
Italy is also the site of the Giro d’Italia, the
second-most important event in the calendar of the cycling sport world. It
has been running for over 100 years now, and was first organised as a
publicity event in a competition between two major Italian newspapers, the
Corriere della Sera and the
Gazzetta dello Sport, whose
trademark color pink (it is printed on pink paper) is taken up by the pink
jersey that is awarded to the leading cyclist during the competition. The
Italians took to the competition so much (and might have been in good shape
from all the everyday cycling among the beautiful hillsides) that they were
winning the competition for over four decades, before the first non-Italian
was able to take home the victory.
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It is no surprise then that Italy has long
been a favorite destination for cycling
enthusiasts. And now, this is also catching
on among other holiday makers. More and more
people nowadays are seeking to go on trips
that will allow them to not only enjoy the
particular climate of a destination, or
maybe see the major sights, but to meet the
local people and get a real taste of the
country they are visiting.
ycling is of course a great way to do that.
On a bicycle, the landscape does not simply
zip past you outside the window of the car,
almost as if it was a TV screen. You feel
the weather (and the terrain – in your legs!),
you hear the sounds and even smell the
smells of the landscape, and it is much
easier to take in the scenery, or stop along
the way. The roads will lead you through the
towns and villages instead of past them on a
fast highway bypass. |
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Not to mention the healthy appetite and
guilt-free indulgence of the delicious
Italian food and wine after a day of hearty
cycling! There are even some tour operators
that specialise in wine and cycling tours, a
winning combination especially here in the
Langhe, where the many wineries scattered
along the hillside roads, and the pretty
hilltop towns such as La Morra, Monforte,
Barolo, Serralunga, Dogliani and Verduno –
and not least our Grinzane Cavour – are
inviting cycling and wine enthusiasts for a
well-deserved rest after a day on the
bicycle. |
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