2025 Anniversary CELEBRATIONS: VENDEMMIA (GRAPE HARVEST)
In September, we harvest grapes and the annual wine making process begins. This year the harvest ran from September 16-19th—the window of time nature gave us between two rainstorms. The timing of the grape harvest is crucial to get the best out of all the hard work that has gone into a year of maintaining the vineyards and the growing grapes. If you harvest too early, low sugar content in the grapes will lead to lower alcohol, which affects both taste and preservation qualities, and higher acidity. But if you wait too long and harvest after a period rain when the grapes had been almost ready, the rain will also cause a drop in sugar content and could lead to mold issues if the ripe grapes burst on the vines.
Following the first September rainstorm we were able to wait for the sun and warm winds to help ripen the grapes and bring up the sugar levels up. For the first two days of the harvest, the staff and interns picked about 1000kg of red grapes for rosato and 1500kg of white grapes for white wine. We anticipate this will yield about 1200 bottles of rosato, and 1600 bottles of white. Our white wine is technically considered an orange wine, meaning the white grapes stay in contact with their skins for a portion of the fermentation process (in our case, just one week).
Ideally we would have waited a little longer to harvest the red grapes for red wine, but more rain was forecasted, so we moved ahead—these situations are always a humbling reminder of how much our work is interrelated with factors we can control and those we cannot. The 3750kg of red grapes we gathered will likely produce about 1000 bottles of semi-carbonic red and about 1800 bottles of our more traditional red wine. More about all the steps of our winemaking process and the different wines we produce can be reviewed on last year's annual appeal letter.
In the end, the quality of our grapes was very high, so we started strong! Fermentation began quickly and is slowly finishing now, producing aromas that are promising of a good final product. Niccolò and the interns have continued to work in the cantina daily; the start of the wine-making process is still fairly hands on compared to later when the wine just needs to age. Overall, the harvest went well and we eagerly anticipate the moment when we can enjoy the 2025 vintage together.
Special Vendemmia Lunch, plus a recipe! On September 24, we celebrated the work and tradition of the harvest with our annual vendemmia lunch. It was an extra special gathering for Spannocchia's staff, residents, and interns as part of our year-long anniversary celebration. 40 people came together for a delicious and convivial meal that included: pumpkin, onion, and sage risotto, baked tomatoes, potato salad, roasted onions, savory prune and onion schiacciata, and sweet schiacciata with grapes (of course!) for dessert. Make your own schiacciata all'uva (sweet grape focaccia) using Spannocchia's recipe, found here.
New Wine Labels: Another exciting aspect of our winemaking this year are new labels, with stunning artwork that was inspired by Spannocchia and created—and then generously gifted to us—by the talented artist, Marina Adams. We love this modern refresh and feel it really captures the essence of our interesting natural wines.
We look forward to sharing a bottle of wine with you the next time you are at Spannocchia. Cin Cin!
