HARVEST DIARY 2022 | SAN POLO 11 10 HARVEST DIARY 2022 | SAN POLO New Vineyard: Updates from the campaign Each vineyard has characteristics that make it unique. We value this uniqueness through a single mission capable of expressing our vocation for excellence. In 2021 we decided to uproot an old vineyard of Cabernet and Merlot, which was replanted with Sangiovese, the main variety of San Polo and, more generally, of the Montalcino area. This is a plot of land where clay reigns supreme, for the youngest and most surprising agronomic project of the San Polo estate. The soil is composed of a large percentage of clay, a component which gives a lot of vigor to the plants. Precisely for this reason we decided to plant a less vigorous Sangiovese clone in order not to encourage this characteristic too much and to avoid grapes not concentrated in aromas and substances. We decided to plant the first seven rows with Moscato Bianco to produce Moscadello di Montalcino DOC in the form of a late harvest, a historic wine of Montalcino since the 1500s: a true tribute to tradition which has required a great deal of research on the part of the winemaker Riccardo Fratton. Moscato bianco is an aromatic variety, early and not fond of water stress, it develops perfectly in clayey soils and does not need hot and dry areas for a good maturation. New installations Our vineyards Vigna Nuova and Vigna Selva: 4 hectares in total are in full testing phase. We preferred to give these plants time and not speed up the process. Our goal has always been to make them root well in the ground. This year we carried out the first curtain wire pruning for the first time, during the winter pruning we will keep one of the two branches. These two new vineyards were planted with the guyot training system, there are many studies, in fact, on the benefit of training Sangiovese in guyot form. This training system favors the most sparse bunches and the sap flow is always renewed and tends to make the stem grow. This is a test that we are carrying out to understand how our Sangiovese performs with this training system. THE IMPORTANCE OF STONES Attention to detail is the secret for a quality wine: every little detail contributes to the final result. For this reason we are very attentive to the needs of the rows, trying to adapt post-harvest processing to the needs of the vineyards. During the year we often find ourselves carefully monitoring all our land, taking the many medium and large stones brought to the surface by working the land carried out in the post-harvest period. This particular structural feature of the soil of San Polo has numerous benefits: it forms the supporting skeletal framework, gives it minerality and contributes to optimal drainage of the water in our land. In fact, Sangiovese does not particularly like too much water available: for this reason it is essential to adapt the subsoil to its nutritional needs. Any excessive dimensions of some stones that are brought to the surface, however, can constitute a danger in the vineyard, causing accidents and limiting their drainage power. To remedy this problem, one of the activities that our country boys are carrying out these days is precisely this: crushing the largest boulders into smaller portions, which will be better redistributed in the vineyard, intervening to balance the structural composition of the soil.
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