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Cascina degli Ulivi - Azienda Biodinamica

la cascina

Wine is, by definition, the transformation of grape juice via fermentation. Any other addition, subtraction and any forcing of the process are devices used to fabricate drinks “based on” fermented grape juice. At Cascina degli Ulivi we have always strived to produce natural wines, with no additives, using only the grapes from our vineyards, farmed with biodynamic methods. The art of winemaking is that of overseeing a natural process in its various stages. For each wine we choose a different vinification method in an effort to “interpret” in the best of ways our grapes. We do not use selected yeasts, nor enzymes, nor any other type of oenological additive.

The entire vinification, for both white and red wines, happens without the addition of sulphites. On some wines we add a very small quantity of sulphites at bottling time only, hence all of our wines have less than 40 mg/litre of total sulphites.
The use of sulphites is essentially an agricultural problem: one canot make wines without the use of sulphites, with common grapes. You need real fruit, stemming from plants that have a strong root apparatus, well set in the depths of the Earth, as well as a healthy canopy, one that can capture a great deal of light (see the page on biodynamic viticulture on this site).

Nowadays, the words organic wine have little meaning and hardly guarantee anything. This wine can very well be the result of a camouflaged industrial agriculture or being organic merely on paper. During vinification all sorts of manipulations are perfectly allowed. Industrially produced yeasts, which more often than not are OGM, extreme physical tratments, fining, acidification, de-acidification, etc. Organic products laws state that yeasts and enzymes should not be OGM, but European Laws state the principle of equivalence between OGM and non-OGM micro-organisms so they can all be declared OGM free even if they are not in the same way as artificial flavours are classified under natural flavours.

Potassium metabisulfate has two main functions: the first one is as an anti-bacterial so it is used on juices, grapes and must. With sensible harvest management, scrupolous cellar hygiene, and perfectly ripe grapes it is easy to do without it.
The other function of sulphites is as an antioxydant (the Italian law prescribes up to 220 mg/l whereas AIAB, the organic control body opts for max 80 mg/litres) and here we have two ways we can do without them. One is to rely heavily on technology, making the vinification in a highly reductive ambient with much energy expenditure by having to control vat temperature, invest in costly machinery and add yeasts, enzymes and nutrients of industrial origin. In such cases I often think: “give us sulphur back!” because the manipulation is so heavy and the risk in using additives so uncertain that low dosages of sulphites are more preferable.
Nowadays, it is possible to arrive at bottling with sulphites levels lower than 40-50 mg per litre and with such quantities the threshold of toxicity of suphites is higher than that one of drunkeness, since one needs over two litres of wine to reach it.

The other way we can do without sulphites is following the natural way of wine making using “managed oxydation” where oxydation is no longer viewed as a monster to fight but as a friendly component of wine. But this is only possible when using grapes of excellent quality. No yeasts, no enzymes, no vitamins, no salts. A natural fermentation and a careful use of lees. Lees contain many colloids that have an anti-oxydant and protective function but to do so, one needs to vinify in wood and that entails more effort and higher costs.

By using this method I have always produced red wines with no sulphites and a guaranteed stability of decades and lately I have also managed to produce white wines with no sulphites added that not only they are stable, but have - if anything - the opposite problem: they need a couple of years in a bottle to reach optimum harmony, a quality that they will maintain for several years thereafter.


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