January can really be a surprising month. Here in Poggio del Moro, for example, it is the period of time that inaugurates the pruning of the vines.
We could say that this represents the first “ingredient” of a magic recipe that is renewed season after season.
Yes, because it is through this fundamental operation that our vineyards can grow healthier and stronger and, consequently, they are able to give us inimitable grapes.
For the pruning phase our experts choose the famous stylistic method launched by Simonit & Sirch: appreciated in every corner of the world, it has literally revitalized even very famous vineyards that seemed destined for an inglorious end.
The method translates into a pruning of respect and is based on four hinges, four simple rules adaptable to all forms of vine breeding.
We explain what they consist of friends less accustomed to this world: allowing the plant to grow with age, to occupy space with the stem and branches; guarantee the continuity of the lymphatic flow; make small cuts on young, minimally invasive wood; use the so-called respectful wood technique to remove the desiccation from the main lymph flow.
“With this style of pruning – explains the staff of Poggio del Moro – we can really honor the plants because the cuts are never overly bloody and are left behind bands of respect between cut and lymphatic flow, so drying does not affect the flows. Thanks to this the plant is more balanced from the vegetative point of view, as well as more healthy and long-lived, because it does not show wounds “.In principle this type of pruning is applied throughout the vineyard, but more specifically in Poggio del Moro we use the techniques of the so-called “spurred cordon” and that of the “Guyot”: operating methods, these, suitable for the production of large grapes.
With the technique of the Cordone speronato we are going to create spurs, from which the buds will start again to fructify; in the case of the Guyot, on the other hand, the shoot is totally renewed, providing also a binding. Pruning begins in January, but also continues in February and March: months essential to obtain a wine of superior quality.
Meanwhile in the Cellar … we are preparing Vin Santo! The phase in which we fill the caratelli is really satisfying! At the end of the month, then, we will deal with bottling the white and rosé, while our red wine remains in aging in the wood.
In this period of time, our wine remains aged in wood, ready to be decanted in the spring.