Farming and winemaking

Farming operations done on all vineyards:

• Winter ripping followed by mixing natural fertilizer (manure) into the soil
• Manual hoeing of all the vines every year in order to remove harmful weeds
• Levelling and refining the soils, also under vine rows
• Cutting under-vine grass when necessary

Farming operations done on vines in production:

• Pruning starts around 10^th February; 2 buds are left on the canes, one of which a basal bud; all operations are done manually, including disinfecting all the cuts with specific natural products
• The last bunch thinning is done at veraison
• Natural treatments to protect against disease: copper, sulphur, Bordeaux mixture and propolis, with the last treatment no later than 25^th July. Treatments are never systematic
• At the end of August the leaves covering the grapes are removed

Harvest operations

Harvesting is only done by hand. Grapes are selected both in the vineyards and the cellar, so that only healthy ripe grapes are destemmed and the berries remain intact. They are then selected one by one.

Winemaking, ageing and bottling operations:

• Bunches selected in the vineyard are destemmed and then manually selected again on arriving at the cellar. Destemming is done in special machines that safeguard the integrity of the berries and enables their selection according to size.
• Berries are checked manually, one by one, before being transferred by conveyor belt directly into 100-quintal oak barrels for fermentation.
• Then pumping over is carried out until devatting; no clarification or filtration
• Devatting is only done in large Slavonian oak barrels (not barriques), without filtration or clarification, and racking is only done when necessary
• The only additive used is sulphur dioxide, but in very limited quantities
• Bottling is done directly from the barrel without filtration, even after over four years of ageing
• Only Sangiovese grapes are used, other grapes and/or wines are never added
• Only grapes from Soldera vineyards are used
• The bottles are stored in cages in the cellar for a few months, before the new vintage is released onto the market