For a high quality of grapes
Because of the diversity of soils and microclimates within our properties, we have carefully planted each vine in the more suitable parcel. For example, the Lippo parcel was found to be ideal terrain for the Sangiovese while the Merlot yields best in the area located around the Romanesque church.
The vineyards of Pieve Santo Stefano are set for maximum quality. The plant format is 2.40 m by 90 cm with a total of about 5,000 plants per hectare. This enables us to significantly lower the grape load per plant.
The adopted cultivation process uses a bilateral cordon and one of the special characteristics of our vineyards is their average 2.40 m height. This significant increase of the foliar surface enables, through photosynthesis activity, a better and anticipated ripening of the grapes. The breeding system adopted is the bilateral spurred cordon for Sangiovese and Merlot, the Guyot for Ciliegiolo, Colorino, Syrah and Cabernet.
The work carried out in the vineyard, essentially manual, aims to achieve the vegetative productive balance of each vine and each parcel in order to obtain wines that express their full originality and specificity.
The choice to convert to organic was very reasoned and is far from fashions and “issues of etiquette”: we are in fact deeply convinced that the high quality of the grapes is never the result of chemistry, but rather of monitoring and continuous and intense manual work in the vineyard, carried out by the trained staff of the company.