Clark and Mary Johnson

After the vigorous walk we went to a winery that has been in the same family for many generations. The owner took us into the vineyard to explain the process from start to finish. They produce four wines: a white and three red wines. All of them use a specific grape called Sagrantino ( for some extra information see: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrantino_di_M… ). One of these (Passito) is really a challenge to produce. They harvest the grapes VERY carefully because they have to set them aside on bamboo mats for three months. If the skin of any grape is broken the juice flowing out can result in mold which can infect the entire harvest. The picture shows the current harvest of 3000 kilos. We understand that he will have about 2100 kilos after drying. You can imagine how little juice will be available once you remove the stems and skins.

The stainless steel fermentation vessels have a water jacket. He uses this to set the temperature of the "must" which allows him to control the rate of fermentation. The next step is to age the wine in oak barrels. The right side of this picture has smaller barrels. The 3000 kilos will only produce enough Passito wine to fill three barrels. Then they have to wait three years before they can bottle and sell the product. It is expensive but he told us he can't really recover the cost of production -- he does it to continue the tradition. In fact, his great grandfather supplied the Vatican until the 1930's.

This family is pretty amazing. The father moved his family to South America leaving behind the family vineyard. They spoke Italian in the home and were very successful in their adopted country. Still, the mother country called to them and the grandparents brought them back to be schooled in Italy. As they matured into adults they assumed the responsibility of maintaining the family's traditions. Surprisingly, the wife is a Korean who was raised in Australia. She prepared a wonderful Italian meal. When we talked with her she asked if her husband's tour had been good. We told her it was great. She was so cute when she told us to not let him know. "Don't tell him" she said. All told, this was a great experience.Leia mais