A pre-harvest outing with Enologist/Wine Maker/Consultant Teo D’Apolito to the vineyards
Day 1: September 2, 2023
- In general, most wineries in the Primitivo growing regions (Manduria, Oria, Santa Susanna, Erchie) and the Negroamaro/Grillo growing regions (province of Brindisi), source their grapes from independent growers that produce relatively low quantities of grapes.
- Teo as a wine consultant/enologist is involved in the process that occurs between the grower and the winery. He visits preferred growers and gathers samples that are taken back to the lab for analysis. Based on his initial inspection of the grapes, he advises the grower on when to harvest. Are the grapes ready to be harvested or should the harvest be delayed a few days?
- At the vineyards, he takes pictures of grape clusters for reference and collects samples from different locations in a given lot. In general, here are some characteristics he considers:
- The thickness of the skin – You don’t want the skin to be too thick, which is an indication that the grapes aren’t quite ready to be harvested.
- How easily does the musk of the grape separate from the skin of the grape.
- The texture and color of the seeds – ideally you want them somewhere in the light to dark brown spectrum. If the seeds are green, the grapes are not ready to be harvested. As far as the texture goes, you need the seeds to be “crispy” when bitten into.
- The Primitivo grape is a pretty consistent varietal. Negroamaro on the other hand has several “sub-varietals” and hence the size of the berries and the shape of the grape leaves can vary. There is a sub-varietal of Negroamaro that is referred to “Albarello”, which roughly translate to “little bush”. These are free-standing vines that are fairly small. They are typically old vines that are 50+ years or greater in age. Currently, the fate of these vines is not trending in the positive direction. This is because of the EU’s influence in persuading growers to uproot these old vines and plant newer ones or even other varietals, to increase the yield; growers are offered more money for this transformation. Teo feels that this trend will eventually diminish the quality of the wines being produced. In general, even 100 year old vines will produce berries, albeit lower in quantity.
Please checkout the photos and video. The video documents the sequence of events that transpired during the course of the day. We traveled from the wineries in the west coast (Ionian Sea) to those in the east (Adriatic Sea).
