Wine Made: Vineyard or Cellar

Wine is made in a vineyard and what is made in the cellar?

Today there’s much discussion about the management of vineyards and the volume of wine in the cellar to create wines of undisputed quality and certain traceability. But let’s try to work out why.

There are those who say that wine is made in the vineyard. The point on which we should investigate is why this is said.
We exclude oenologist, oenotecists and agronomists, who will provide an answer from their perspective. This sentence and the idea behind it is the expression of one of the many wine fashions and phrases made meaningless if not studied in detail.

 

The management of the vineyard is fortunately becoming increasingly important thanks to “old” European Regulations implemented only a few years ago by Italy. Special mention should be made to the two directives 2009/127 / EC (to amend the Directive 2006/42 / EC) and 2009/128 / EC, which respectively regulate the machines used for the application of pesticides and to establish a framework for Community action for the sustainable use of Phytosanitary Products (PF).

These two directives have finally made the curtain fall on the inconsiderate use of chemicals by putting an end to the first project that allows the responsible management of territories in agriculture. Before the directives and the European conventions, ministries, producers and technicians began to pressurise for improvements in productions increasingly characterised by quality, sustainability and transparency. They then prepared the way and soil for the increase of organic and biodynamic management of the land.

 

Today, in terms of “vineyard or winery”, the producers (and others) have realised that marketing and clever use of words allow you producers to inflate prices. Consumers appear to accept this believing that Organic or biodynamic styles appear to bring other costs to the production of wines.

This can be true to a point as who knows the true cost. Many who make an organic wine can pass a bottle of wine from 5 euros up to 15.75 euros.

When we talk about “organic” an aspect not considered is the change in mass processing techniques in the cellar. In organic wine making one of the most interesting changes is the prohibition of the use of PVPP (Polyvinylpolypyrrolidone – adsorption of phenolic substances such as catechin, leucoantocians and tannins) in the cellar too many producers do not provide the refrigerators suitable for the elimination of PVPP.

Other techniques are forbidden, but we will explore this later.

 

Let’s remember that good wine is made with optimal management of the vineyard, yet the “chemists” will always be essential to be able to obtain the maximum output from the ingredients in the cellar. Bad winemakers and oenologists can ruin a harvest, while good oenologists/winemakers will be able to respect varieties, wine and work done in the vineyard to create a harmonious and coordinated system.

This article is just a sketch trying to make clear in which direction this blog will go, neither too extreme nor too conservative, but will try to clarify and bring balanced ideas by arming the consumer with knowledge to face what is a difficult subject even for technicians.

 

In articles to follow will we tackle various topics in sections addressing aspects of a vineyard and winemaking. Topics will include: vineyards – cellars, bio – conventional, integrated struggle and more. For now this is direction we will take.

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