Piedirosso DOC grapes from organic farming
The Old Vineyard Monte Grillo dedicates around 8,000 square meters. growing grapes Piedirosso of Campi Flegrei. In our company we are still brought up as usual organically in expanded forms, because of its high production of wood. In particular it is bred in the ways defined 'a pratese', and 'a spalliera' (trellis): the screws are linked between them in the form medium-high and incurred with the use of chestnut poles, this leads to form a large "maze" of branches, pruning dry rather generous that allow the plant to achieve a fair balance between vegetation and production. This breeding method affects not just on annual production costs, requiring periodic replacement of the support poles in chestnut, the annual replacement of fastenings in willow (not used fastenings in plastic), and especially a greater use of specialized labor. In spring, the vineyard is fertilized naturally with the green manure plant beans. In the second half of May we proceed to a second pruning in green eliminating all branches excess non-carriers of the fruit, leaving only the bearers of grape vines, and those that will be used for the production of the fruit in the following year.
Piedirosso always unaffected by phylloxera, (one of the few cases in our country), our company is bred only in "frank foot", without the use of grafts. The replacement of the screws is carried out with the techniques of the "tripod" (one of the branches of the vine nearest is lowered and basement at the point where it will have to replace the screw removed) or of the "cuttings" of a year already provided with air radical (for the first year cuttings of 40-50 cm in length are treated with rooting hormone and underground all nearby nursery and abundantly watered during the summer season). Its natural resistance to powdery mildew and botrytis, makes this variety responds well to growing organically.
Between late August and early September we proceed to cluster thinning, eliminating those of low quality, and the excess leaves covering the remaining clusters, in order to allow a better aeration of the clusters and their better maturation. Our yields are so low average, but steady, and affect the cost of production of Piedirosso.
Our biological method of cultivation also requires a greater number of treatments phyto-sanitary, and therefore the greater human work, since all the products that are used are of the single cover and / or protection, and are not assimilated by the screw. For each rainfall, consistent, repeat the treatment plant health at least up to 40-45 days before harvest. All our work is aimed to obtain a grape of high quality and authenticity that comes as close as possible to what our grandparents gathered more than sixty years ago.