Montalcino Report

Olive Harvest 2011: Harvest Byproducts Are Useful

When 100 kilograms of olive are pressed, the following are obtained:

10-15 kilograms of olive oil;
40-55 kilograms of olive oil pomace;
30-50 liters of water.

Because these last byproducts are unrefined, the vegetal liquids are used by our estate for the fertirrigatione (fertilizer-water irrigation) in the olive groves (photo above).

The pomace is instead sent to an outside company and is utilized for the production of biogas (fermentation gas) in digestors. We do not utilize it here at our estate because to construct a digestor and make it economically useful, we would need to have a production of byproducts 10 times as great as that which we could produce today. And for this reasons, we have chosen the path of sending it to another company.

Harvest Report 2011: The Rain Has Done Only Good For Us

In this moment of the year, the wines in the cellar are making the malolactic fermentation, without the addition of bacteria, but utilizing only the temperature (we keep the wines at 20/22° C. [68/72° F.])

In the countryside, we are picking the olives but the harvest will be over by November 10. This has been a vintage with much fewer olives, especially when compared to last year.


In the vineyards, we are doing the autumnal working of the soils. In this moment, we are working in the "Paganelli" vineyard, our top cru.


The woods are also beginning to feel the autumn and the leaves are changing coloring, veering from the green to yellow and to red.

Last week's rain, which caused much damage in Liguria and upper Tuscany, raining 5,400 millimeters in 5 hours, did only good for us inasmuch as it only rained about 30 millimeters and it fell slowly.

All of the rain that fell was "drunken" by the land. We are expecting another storm this weekend and we hope that it does not do a lot of damage.

"Benfinita Vendemmia" the "Happy Ending of the Harvest" Celebration

Just like every year, Sunday 23 October, we have made the lunch to celebrate the end of the harvest.

150 persons, including our employees and their families have participated in the festivities, which have now become a yearly tradition.

The food was traditional Tuscan cuisine cooked in a homestyle manner and paired with our wines and served in our vinification cellar.

It was also an opportunity to taste the newly pressed olive oil that we began producing a few days ago.


During the lunch, our owner Leopoldo Franceschi has made a speech and expressed his thanks to our employees and he has given them an update on the quality of the 2011 harvest and the progress of the winery.

Lastly, in keeping with a yearly ritual, our able cellar master Fabio Guerrini was awarded a gold medal for his 20 years of honorable service at Il Poggione during which he has contributed in a positive manner, thanks to his abilities, in reaching the goals that we have reached.

Olive Harvest Report 2011: Some Light Rain and Cooler Temperatures

On Thursday 20 October, it has rained also in Sant'Angelo in Colle. But the rain was light, only 15 millimeters and it gave relief to a countryside thirsty for water. The temperatures are also beginning to drop.

On Friday, the maximum temperature was 14.5 C. (58° F.) and the minimum was 6.5° C. (44° F.) Saturday morning the minimum fell to 4° C. (39° F.).

We have continued to harvest the olives over the weekend and on Saturday the olive press was working the olives harvested the previous day.

Yesterday, Sunday 23 October, we have stopped the work because we have celebrated as is our habit the "Benfinita" or "Happy Ending" of the harvest, with a grand luncheon in the fermentation room with the owner of the winery and our employees with their families.

Harvest Report 2011: Strange Weather Continues in Sant'Angelo in Colle

The climatic progression in the village of Sant'Angelo in Colle (commune of Montalcino), where we live and make wine and olive oil, continued to be strange last week. The rain that we had awaited for so long did not arrive and the olive trees are more thirsty. The olive harvest will be quantitatively low this year.

To assess the quality, we must wait for the pressing of the olives. Antonio, the responsible man for the press, is finishing the last maintenance of the machines and then we will be ready to begin.

Olive Harvest Report 2011: Lower Production But Fruit Is Healthy

The olive oil campaign, which normally begins between 20-25 October, promises to be difficult. The strong heat of August combined with the scarcity of water are prerequisites for having, again this year, grape yields smaller than the average. At the same time, we find ourselves faced with medium-low olive production. At the moment, the olives are healthy and there are no attacks of olive flies.

Il Poggione Olive Oil at the Rare Wine Co. in Sonoma

Some of the olive trees on the estate of the Tenuta Il Poggione are hundreds of years old. The Rare Wine Company of Sonoma has made a newsletter about the Tuscan extra-virgin olive, including the oil by Il Poggione. Click here to read the newsletter.

Il Poggione extra-virgin pitless olive oil: "one of the top extra virgins of Tuscany, regardless of price".

 

We would like to thank everyone for reading and following our olive oil posts this year. We are very proud of our olive oil at Tenuta Il Poggione and we are displeased that we cannot let you "taste" it on our blog! 

Herewith is that which was written by the Rare Wine Company of Sonoma in the California about our wine:

"Ever since our first visit to the estate in 1988, we've been great admirers of Il Poggione's olive oil. This venerable Brunello producer has long made an oil whose price-quality rapport is nearly unparalleled. But since installing its new state-of-the-art frantoio in 2004, its oil is now one of the top extra virgins of Tuscany, regardless of price. Il Poggione's real prize, however, is their cache of old olive trees planted at elevations up to 500 meters".

Olive harvest 2010: how the pitless olive oil is made at Il Poggione

First the olives are picked by the workers in our estate-owned olive groves.

The olives are collected into the crates.

The leaves are removed from the fruits.

The pits are removed from the fruits before the pressing. 

The oil and the water are separated using an centrifuge. 

Olive harvest 2010

A few weeks ago we have started the manual harvest of our 12.000 olive trees. We have now begun to prepare the "pitless" extra virgin olive oil, which, being without the pits, is a little sweeter and smoother in the mouth.