TWO MONTHS OF TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE VINEYARD
The past two months in the vineyards of Podere Il Casale have been a fascinating journey through the crucial stages of grape ripening, from the end of vegetative growth to the long-awaited harvest.
August: Veraison and the First Changes
In August, the vines stop producing new vegetation to concentrate all their energy on the fruit: this is the time of veraison. During this stage, the grapes begin to ripen and their chemical composition changes profoundly. Photosynthesis in the berries decreases, making way for the synthesis of compounds such as anthocyanins and flavones, responsible for coloration. Red grape clusters begin to turn reddish, while white grapes shift from green to a golden, translucent yellow.
But color isn’t the only change!
The pulp becomes richer in sugars, acidity decreases, skins soften, and aromatic compounds and polyphenols form—elements that will be essential for the quality of the wine. To support the vines in this process, we adopted specific agronomic practices: shallow soil tilling to reduce evaporation and, during sudden temperature drops, treatments with a biodynamic silica-based preparation that enhances the forces of light and favors ripening.
September: Monitoring Maturity and Harvest
With September, the grapes become increasingly sweet. Starting from August 20, we began monitoring ripeness using a refractometer (an optical instrument used to measure sugar concentration) to determine the sugar content of the pulp.
However, the choice of harvest date does not depend on sugar alone: it is essential to find the right balance between sugars and acidity, what we call technological maturity.
For red wines, we also evaluate phenolic maturity—the level of development of anthocyanins, tannins, and polyphenols contained in the skins and seeds.
With greater temperature variation between day and night, tannins polymerize, becoming less astringent and giving the wine greater aromatic complexity.
Beyond laboratory analyses, directly tasting the grapes remains an essential tool to understand the evolution of ripening. Finally, physiological maturity marks the end of the cycle: when the berry detaches easily from the stem and the seeds are ready to germinate, the fruit has completed its journey.
The 2025 Harvest
This year, we chose September 8 for the harvest.
The grapes were hand-picked in the early morning hours to preserve freshness and quality. It has been a generous year, both in terms of quantity and quality, and we can’t wait to discover, in a few weeks, the results of the fermentations.
Now that the grape clusters have reached the cellar, the vines—still brimming with vitality—can turn their energy to storing up the reserves they’ll need to endure the winter and awaken again with fresh buds next spring.
