Description
Premiato Vinsanto Doc Valdichiana Toscana
VINSANTO Doc valdichiana Toscana
Appellation: Vinsanto Valdichiana Toscana Doc – Varietal: 60% Trebbiano (uni-blanc) 40% Malvasia
Winemaking: We still produce this traditional sweet wine of Tuscany following ancient processes from a blend of varieties: Trebbiano and Malvasia are dried in the roof of a building with the windows open, where there form some botrytis remain for 3/4 months, aged for 4 to 6 years old small and valued wooden barrels (Caratelli).
Description: Amber honey in colour, it has a warm, intense and persistent scent with notes of dry figs and almond; its flavour is velvety and persistent with a reminder of candy fruits.
Vinsanto and Santa Vittoria special drying and botrytis process: The fungus, Botrytis cinerea, is more affectionately known as “noble rot.”it’s the same kind of rot that spoils strawberries and soft fruit with greyish fuzz. So what makes this mold noble? Naturally it comes down to a fine balance of moisture, sunlight and temperature. Ripe, healthy grapes must still be on the vine as fall begins, when misty mornings can provide the moisture that the fungus needs to thrive. It will pierce a grape’s skin to feast on its juice. After a few hours, sunshine and otherwise dry conditions must follow. This evaporates moisture and stops the fungus in its tracks. The following morning, the process repeats itself.A succession of misty mornings and dry, sunny days provide the perfect conditions as sugars, flavors and acids concentrate in the grape while the fungus consumes water. It’s risky business, as rain can turn this delicate interaction into full-blown rot. In some years, growers lose their entire crop. Botrytized grapes aren’t pretty, as they turn shriveled and brown. Their juice, however, is golden, sweet and precious. The Santa Vittoria Botrytis room “Vinsantaia”: What usually happened naturally in the vineyards close to a river, we do inside under the roof as the Tuscan tradition does since hundreds years ago. In a period of 90 days we use to open and close windows and door to create a fine balance of moisture, dryness and temperature. After that period, when doing analysis we see the grapes are ready, dry enough and with the right quantity of “Noble rot” Botrytis we press the grapes and start the fermentation and maturation process. For the Vinsanto the fermentation and maturation is done in very old barrel, most older than 100 years, under the roof where the temperature change between 0°C in the winter up to 35àC in the summer. Every barrel “caratello” contains a mix of yeast and bacterium called “The Mother” that is the most important ingredient for the right fermentation. The process keep at least 4 years. At the end we have the Santa Vittoria Vinsanto Doc.
