Since I was a child at a certain time of the year my "nonno" (italian for grandfather) called me downstairs to the cellar of our family house: the time of bottling had arrived. I remember vividly the smell of wine, yeasts and sulphur bisulphite that pervaded the dark air in the cold cellar.
Corks, bottles, demijohns and pipes of various sizes were around us, and I knew that I had to suddenly prepare my seat near the wine tank, waiting for orders. Then nonno started to move the wine from the container to a jar, to load the pipe, and some wine started to occasionally spill around us during the process. In a short time, the operations were set up and I gave my nonno the first bottles to fill and then moving it aside, in a well established order.
We worked together for a couple of days to move the red and the white wines in hundreds of bottles, labeling them with handwritten stickers and corking them with a hand cork machine. They were moved to a safe cold place in a special room near the cellar, we clean everything and put all the tools back in their places. Lot of jokes, lullabies, stories and attention for both of us, and great fun in making something that contributes to every meal throughout the year.
Vivid memories are related to my nonno's vintage, in the vineyard, with friends and parents. With our lunch picnics at the end of a row and the hands that remained dark purple for days after the end of the picking and the crushing of the grapes by feet with four or five of us in a large wooden vat half full of berries. And again the unforgettable great quietness and gentle smell of the main underground cellar, packed up with large wood barrels, concrete vats, small containers of any size and a wall full of tools.
Winemaking has occurred for thousands of years in human history, and should be kept as natural as possible. For us it is a matter of tradition, of memories and of desire to pursue a continuous improvement of our lives.
This is the reason why we use grapes from our vineyard only, grown in the same place, with the same care, and this is also the reason why we do not blend our wines at all but keep the varieties at 100% pure in the bottles. Another reason is that we like to make our wines uplifting, elegant and gentle, and this requires some special attention, minimal chemical help and the use the most traditional ingredients and procedures.
Daniele Ferrari - Winemaker