Week 15 of wine adventures in Piedmont

It began a couple of weeks ago, with Dolcetto now in and bubbling away in the vats while the cool, grey, rainy weather of the past week has been shoved aside today by blue skies and brilliant sunshine. So the threat to the bulging, compact bunches of Barbera, their thin skins ever ready to split and rot, has been averted for now; their harvest planned for the end of this week. Meanwhile Nebbiolo remains aloof, hanging high and dry thanks to firm fruit and open bunches; the recent showers toning their thick skin and refreshing the bunches as they approach harvest time at the end of Sept/beginning of October.

In this first video I catch up with Maria Teresa Mascarello of Cantina Mascarello Bartolo as she harvests her Dolcetto from the Rue vineyard; also known for the quality of its Nebbiolo fruit:

The second video, shot at the Cantina itself, shows the Dolcetto fruit being passed through a destemmer, via Maria Teresa’s brand new pump, delicately retaining the integrity of the skins, and into the cement vats for fermentation:

Next week: more harvest news!