Roero Arneis processing

For Roero Arneis the first intervention in the vineyard is fertilization, which is carried out in autumn, at the end of the harvest, in order to give back to the soil and to the vine the energy spent in the ripening of the grapes. By identifying, from the color of the leaves, the needs of every single plant, I manually sprinkle the soil with organic substance: cow manure or humus.

Subsequently, after the fall of the leaves, I start the winter pruning leaving for each plant only one shoot with a number of buds ranging from 5 to 8.

The first thinning out is done in the middle of July and it consists in removing from every single plant the 50% of the production; 5 bunches are left on the shoots.

The second thinning out is done in the middle of August; this vine produces rather small bunches, therefore this thinning out consists in removing the berries burnt by the sun and the green berries, that is those which have not started the ripening process.

These simple measures allow me to harvest every year very healthy and ripe bunches, rich in sugars, aromas and scents that through fermentation are kept unaltered in the wine.

At the end of this process, with a high density of vines per hectare, 7000 - 7500, I obtain a very low yield: 800g - 1kg per vine. Bearing in mind the production disciplinary of Roero Arneis is of 100 Qli/Ha of grapes, with this kind of thinning in my vineyards I do not exceed 60Qli/Ha.

At harvest time the harvested bunches are put in small crates in order to preserve their integrity and quality and brought to the winery for pressing. In all the various cellar operations I do not use any substance that can alter the characteristics of the wine such as increasing color, structure, fragrance or tannin.                                                                          

For Roero Arneis, a cold maceration of the must and skins for 3-4 days is carried out before fermentation. With this procedure, all the aromas and scents naturally present on the skins remain unaltered and are transferred to the must.

The alcoholic fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks, in a natural way with only indigenous yeasts, at controlled temperature, for a period ranging between 10 and 30 days. Subsequently, for at least six months, with the batonnage technique, the wine is refined on fine lees.

Malolactic fermentation does not take place for Roero Arneis.

The wine obtained is not clarified and filtered, but cleaned by natural decantation in stainless steel tanks.

Bottling takes place in July, with the moon in its waning phase; part of the wine is aged in 750ml bottles for 6 months before sale and another part is placed in second/third passage barriques. Here it is aged for one more year, during which the batonnage technique is repeated, and then it is bottled in 1.5L magnums which are aged for 6 months before being released for sale.

I would like to point out that at the end of these operations the content of sulfites, the only substance foreign to grapes present in the wine I produce, is always less than 50% of the quantity allowed by law.