In the now distant 1956, owners and founders of the Tenuta Il Poggione, the Franceschi family, constructed brand new farm houses to give work to families and farmers who were without work or a home. One of these was the "podere" called "I Cancellini", the "little gates". Last week we have completed the phase of its restaurant and here live two families of our workers.
Tomorrow we will post modern-day photos of the "before" and the "after" of the restauration.
During this period, the first thing we do is to remove all the polyethene material that was used to bind the vegetation. This material is collected, placed in bags, and then disposed of by companies that specialize in refuse disposal.
Then we pass through the vineyards with a pre-pruner mounted on a tractor that removes 80% of the canes and helps the subsequent final pruning which is done manually. This is done with pneumatic scissors.
After the harvest of the olives, the Tenuta Il Poggione stopped the works in the fields, picking up again to work after the mid-point of January. We have purposely not begun the pruning of the vines and the olive trees because the climatic progression has had days more similar to spring than to winter.
The winter cold is very important: it serves to have more buds that fruit than those that turn to wood. But it also serves to make the plants go into and remain in a vegetative state.
Since this did not happen because of the temperatures, the risk is that in a premature reawakening of the vegetation, there can be possible damage in the spring caused by the probable lowering of the temperatures with late frosts.
The delay in pruning the plants serves to slow the vegetative reawakening and this is the logic that has guided us in our work. The current weather is anomalous for the season, even with regard to rainfall. We are very much below the seasonal averages and the rain has yet to be seen. We hope that in the coming days a storm will arrive with rain and a lowering of the temperatures.
After the works for the new vineyard at the Ficaioli, we have also replanted another new Sangiovese vineyard this summer in August at the Località Pianelli. In the photo below, you can see that the tillage consists in a preventive effort for the planting of the vine with the goal of making the terrain softer and helping the roots of the vine to reach a greater depth. The work in this case was long and difficult because the terrain was very heterogeneous and needed to be substituted in various zones with soil more suited to the cultivation of the vine.
Beyond our raising Limousine cows and Large White and Cinta Sense pigs on our estate, we also try to make our workday meals taste better with better quality by raising our own chickens and eggs and growing our own "nearly organic" vegetables. This way, our meals have a "zero carbon foot print".
As we do every year in the old vineyards, we have planted new vines that we have prepared last year in planting pots.
We utilize these clones of Sangiovese to maintain the typicity of the grapes. By doing so, we maintain the vineyard for more than 40 years of production, as we have done with the vineyard CRU PAGANELLI.
We must never forget that in order to make quality, the age of the vines is a very important factor, just as having an excellent density of the vines.
Yesterday we have completed the organic fertilizing of the land using manure pellets. They are easy to distribute and they are an excellent substitute for barnyard manure. At the same time, in order to avoid that it be burned by the sun, it was also buried by tilling the land.
We continue to harvest the Sangiovese to produce the Rosso di Montlacino. On Monday, we will begin to harvest the Sangiovese to produce the Brunello di Montalcino. Yesterday, the analytical monitoring has comforted us. The choice to wait to make the harvest has given the hope-for results. The potential anthocyanins have risen to 1428.00 and the extractible anthocyanins to 1017.00. The ripeness of the seeds is excellent. We are still convinced, that at least for us in Sant'Angelo in Colle, 2011 will be an excellent vintage.
Our Limousine breed livestock are raised in the wild. Because of the scarcity of water this year, they do not have grass to graze on and so they are fed with hay produced by us. This is a group with the bull, the calves, and his harem of females.
For many years now, we use specialized companies to dispose of everything that is recyclable (glass, drain oil, plastic, cardboard etc.).
In January 2011, we had planted the Fabbrica vineyard with rootstock from American vines and we have begun to graft them with Sangiovese clones taken from the Vigna Paganelli vineyard, planted in 1964. We have chosen to utilize clones from the old vineyard in such a way as to keep alive the winery's characteristic Sangiovese di Montalcino, a viticultural patrimony that needs to be safeguarded. The practice of grafting has been practiced since the 1800s to combat phylloxera, a disease that that was widespread in that period and could cause death.
A. Our expert worker Graziano Albani prepares the grafts of Sangiovese coming from the Vigna Paganelli.
B. Our workers uncover the vines by removing the earth in order to allow the grafter to complete the graft.
C. The grafter removes from the leaves from the canes of Sangiovese.
D. The removed buds are soaked in order to keep them alive.
E. The grafter has completed the graft by inserting the bud of Sangiovese into the American rootstock.
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