Diary of a Harvest 2020 – Part Two

The harvest social diary by Sapaio Wine Explorer, Alessandro Nannelli.

September 23_Nothing is born from diamonds. Wine is born in the vineyards, not in the cellar.
Without a top quality grape, it is impossible to create a top quality wine. Finally, we reap the fruits of an entire year’s work, and in the cellar we try to bring out every aspect of their best qualities.

October 6_Oh! The necessity of imperfection…
These intense days in the vineyard have just drawn to a close, recounting not just any harvest (but one which, in my opinion, holds many surprises).2020 will most certainly be a good vintage, however with a less peculiar September it might have been even better. But as is known, especially among us winemakers, the perfect harvest does not exist.
As many have said, if one is constantly striving for improvement, if one is always looking something new, then one can never trully think that they have reached perfection. Because if one’s aim is to always improve, perfect harvests cannot exist.
In my opinion, one should look for something special in every year; that slight variation, that progress and that attention, which serves to gather every nuance. As I have already said, the magic of this world is that wine is a marriage between nature – that gives us grapes – and man, who interprets the vineyards and transforms the grapes into wine. Even the slightest change may result in a different wine…

October 14_ “A round of applause”. The curtain closes on the cellar…
And my thoughts go back to the harvest that has just finished…I look at these words and I see the ardor of the sun that heats the grapes, the sweat and hard work of the harvesters, the sacrifice and passion of all, working towards a single result…Bring home every grape as best as one can, with the utmost care.
Nowadays, there are ever more mechanical grape harvesters and technology, but quality comes from listening, and from the heart.
What machines lack is what we technicians have. We spend an entire year following everything from fertilization, to pruning and treatments, in order to look after our vineyards with the utmost care.