Montalcino Report

Harvest Report: Drying the Trebbiano and Malvasia Grapes for the Vin Santo

Today, our workers have laid out on the mats the Trebbiano and Malvasia grapes that they picked today to dry them with the scope of producing our Vin Santo.

The drying takes place in the "Vinsantaia", a very well aerated place where this process takes place in a natural way.

After the drying, the grapes will be submitted to gently pressing and the must will be transferred to the inside of "caratelli", the special casks for the production of the Vin Santo, for a long and slow fermentation on the mother yeast, who, simultaneously with the aging, will endure for many years and will give the Vin Santo its characteristic aroma.

Harvest Report 2011: Grapes for Vin Santo Are Ripe and Ready to Pick

We have made an examination of the white grapes Malvasia and Trebbiano with which we are going to make the Vin Santo.

The grapes are healthy, at the right point of ripening, and in the next days, they will be harvested to be place on mats to be dried.

The Tuscan Vin Santo and the Greek Vinsanto

A lot of persons has asked me lately about the difference between the Tuscan Vin Santo and the Vin Santo of the Greece and if the two wines are related.

In fact, our good friend Jeremy Parzen has written about this question on his blog Do Bianchi. See his most recent post on the origins of the names of the two wines at this link: http://dobianchi.com/2010/10/06/the-earliest-mention-of-vin-santo-in-print-maffei-verona-1732/

As Dr. Jeremy observes, the proper name of the Tuscan Vin Santo is "Vin Santo" and the proper name of the Greek wine is the "Vinsanto" written all attached. If no one is sure where the name of the Vin Santo Toscano comes from, Jeremy has shown that the name of the wine of the Greece is derived from the fact that the Greek wine is made on the island of Santorini where it came to be called the Vinsanto for the abbreviation of Santorini, which is an Italian toponym for the island.

Both wines are "vini passiti" or "dried grape wines" but there are major differences between the two wines. 

The grape for Greek Vinsanto is dried outside in the open air. The grape for the Vin Santo Toscano is dried indoors in the Vinsantaio special attic for the making of this unique wine.

It does not take as long to dry the grape for the Greek Vinsanto. It takes months to dry the grapes for the Vin Santo Toscano.

But there is also the more important difference regarding the wines. The grape for the Vinsanto of the Greece is dried and then made into the wine with one fermentation. 

The grape for the Vin Santo Toscano is dried for a long time and then it is made into the wine. But then it is placed to age in the vinsantaio where the cold weather will stop the fermentation. Then the fermentation will begin again in the spring with the arrival of the warmer temperatures. This process will continue until the wine stabilizes itself. 

Vin Santo is a very special and unique wine for the "Toscani", "the Tuscan peoples" and even though some people like to have the wine with the famous "cantucci" of our land, we think better to have the Vin Santo Toscano when it has aged with cheeses and Tuscan honey. 

Vintage 2010 Vin Santo: picking the grapes for the Vin Santo

Last week we have also begun to harvest the grapes to make the Vin Santo. Bunches of Trebbiano and Malvasia, picked and placed in small crates.

The grapes are then laid out to dry "appassire" on the "cannicci" the straw mats.

Later, after the "appassimento", the drying, the grapes will be pressed and the must will be transferred to the "carati", special oak casks used for the Vin Santo.

Drying of the grapes for Vin Santo

Yesterday, I posted my father's notes on the Trebbiano and Malvasia that we picked yesterday and that will be used to make our Vin Santo.

After the grapes are picked, they are situated on these mats made out of reeds.

Then the workers hang the mats as in this photo and the grapes will dry in the "vinsantaia" until December. Note how the windows in the vinsantaia will provide natural aeration for the "appassimento" or "drying" of the grapes. 

Here's a video of the grapes being situated on the mats. 

Once the grapes have made their "appassimento", in other words, when they have dried properly, they will be vinified and the wine will be aged in "caratelli", small barrels used for the production of Vin Santo.

Here are the caratelli from the 2007 vintage for the Vin Santo of Il Poggione.

Harvest of Trebbiano and Malvasia for Vin Santo

Here are notes of my father about the harvest of Trebbiano and Malvasia for Vin Santo. Tomorrow I will post more photos and a YouTube video but now we are all very tired from harvesting!

Today, we have harvested the Trebbiano and Malvasia grapes to make the Vin Santo. We have waited the most possible, because of the dry progression of the season, so that the grapes would ripen even more on the vine. Our workers have harvested the healthy and most ripe grape bunches. They were placed in crates and transported by truck to the vinsantaia. The grapes were placed on reed mats where they will remain to dry at least until the beginning of December.

Fabrizio Bindocci