EXPERIENCE, TRADITION, CARE AND TECHNIQUE
These words are the keys to understanding the philosophy that guides Andrea Fontana’s work as a farmer and winemaker whose wines are the embodiment of the soil and sky where his vines grow.
Every action is governed by the ambitious project of obtaining healthy grapes for wines that are first and foremost traditional and genuine.
Wine philosophy
Work in the vineyard focusses on the needs of the plants throughout the seasons, with a harmonious approach to production, which limits plant stress caused by excessive interventions.
At harvest time, each operation is carried out manually
to allow the winemaker to hand pick the berries, cluster by cluster, destined for each label in order to obtain the highest quality product possible.
Once the berries reach the winery, they are processed outdoors, and maintained at ambient external temperatures without deliberate controls, save for those that occur naturally, as we firmly believe that the must can maintain correct balance naturally. The grapes are crushed and de-stemmed as they are harvested, to maintain the freshness and integrity of the fruit as much as possible. Fully-fermenting must created using pied de cuve, or a fermentation starter with indigenous yeasts from the vineyard, is added to the freshly pressed juice so that fermentation starts about ten hours after harvesting. No sulphur is added during vinification; this is added afterwards, once malolactic fermentation is completed.
A minimalist philosophy, guided by generations of experience, and best summed up in the equation that if you’ve done things right in the vineyard, no further intervention should be necessary. However, one ingredient is always added: time. So our wine is aged in large oak barrels in the cellar and left to mature until it is ready.
And so with an approach based on ancient traditions and deep respect, we craft great wines year after year, capable of telling their story without the need for any fanfare, and which show their class from the first sip right through to the last drop.
