Grape Piedirosso of Monte Grillo

DOC from Organic Farming

Piedirosso wine from ancient vineyard of Monte Grillo

Our Piedirosso is obtained almost handcrafted as did our ancestors, with the use of very little technology, and without the use of yeasts, sulfites and other chemicals commonly used today in oenology. The fermentation of our grapes with the skins lasts only 5-6 days.
We get a full-bodied wine, with good tannin structure, intense ruby color, the aroma that brings in red fruits such as plums and cherries, with alcohol contents which amounted from 11.5° to 12.5° degrees.
On one side of the must in fermentation (normally it is using that later in the maturation of the grapes), filtered appropriately, we get a sweet and fragrant "Lambiccato", which after a year will become a great dry sparkling fruity, and with further aging will be transformed into a sparkling dry.

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.

Piedirosso DOC grapes from organic farming

The grape variety

Piedirosso is a native grape of Campania black berry of unknown origin,  present since time immemorial in Campi Flegrei, where it is the predominant red grape variety. It is known as the dialect Per 'e palummo, which describes a morphological peculiarities of the rachis that can see, with the ripening of the grapes, the pedicels of grape of red color, like that of a pigeon's leg. the grape variety is known as Piedirosso only since 1909 when the Carlucci called it as equal to Palombina Black, described by Herrera and Sederini in its documents of the sixteenth century, in which it is assimilated to Columbine, the disclosures of which date back to the Naturalis Historia of Plinio il Vecchio in Roman times.

It is typical and widespread in Campania, especially in the province of Naples. the grape variety is well on calcareous soils, but especially those of volcanic origin of the Campi Flegrei, where he finds his natural environment, especially in the hills, about 300-400 meters.

Currently is now widespread breeding intense on rootstocks of American vine, carried out by the technique of Guyot and spurred cordon, but still resist ungrafted vineyards as usual.
The phyto-sanitary treatments against downy mildew and powdery mildew are normally effected with systemic chemicals, which ensure the absorption by the vine of the sprayed substances, this allows to reduce the number of treatments and the costs of the same, but adversely affects the quality and genuineness of the final product.

the grape variety is very vigorous Piedirosso, with medium-late maturing in the first 20 days of October.
The leaf shape looks average, orbicular, three or five lobes. The grape is highly concentrated with sugars and acid media. It has clusters of medium to large, stocky shape of a truncated pyramid, sometimes winged, and sparse, with stalk and stalk reddish in color. The beans are medium-sized, spherical, with high concentrations by their bloom on the thick skin of red-violaceo.

The Piedirosso wine

Piedirosso is part of many designations of origin and geographical indications bells, both alone and in assembly, as the Campi Flegrei DOC in rosé. He prepares well to aging but can be drunk young. Generally provides full-bodied wines, and a good tannic structure, with a beautiful deep ruby color. The range varies from olfactory red fruits like plums and cherries of young wines, to the nuances of the Tertiary aged, with notes of coffee, tobacco and spicy notes. In some cases there may be small perfume with floral notes of violet, which can have spikes in balsamic best products. Among the pairings has associations with the game and poultry, but it can also be served with meat laid out pork sausages and aged cheeses.