GRAPE GROWING & WINEMAKING PHILOSOPHY
We think in bunches of berries per plant instead of kilograms per hectare. Each plant is an individual and must be treated that way in order to produce the high quality grapes we require.
Our planting system is the traditional espalier and density goes from 4000 to 5000 plants per hectare (1 meter between plants in the row and from 2 to 2,5 meters between rows) depending of soil type and variety, clone and rootstock vigour. We search for equilibrated vines that produce 2 or 3 kilograms per plant depending of the variety’s characteristics.
Details of vineyard management and treatments used: All our vineyards are non irrigated and we do not use residual herbicides. We use no insecticides and normally only mineral fungicides. We use no chemical fertilisers, only organic compost when planting a new vineyard and have a clover planting between rows for fixing nitrogen from the air. We keep the natural grass cover till the end of Spring rains in order to extract excess water and later on during the season we mow the vegetation and disk the soil in the Summer. Three to four times during the growing season we take away excess leaves from the bunches area for better exposure of the grapes. We take away excess crop when needed and clean up late flowering bunches that would not be completely ripe at harvest time.
Harvesting method: Hand picking of grapes - two times if necessary to achieve full maturity of the bunches – from early morning to midday if too hot. Most years unnecessary because March is fresh. Transport to the winery in 20 kg boxes with tractor and cart in not more than an hour from picking to crushing.
Winery details: Next to the vineyard. Isolation of roofs, walls and doors with polyurethane solid foam. Small low height for better skin contact 5000 to 15000 litters epoxy coated cement vats and Inox tanks for fermentation and storage. Temperature control in with cold water running through spiral Inox pipes in contact with must. Vaslin Bucher grape crusher and pneumatic press.
Fermentation details: De-stalking and crushing of berries. No enzymes pre-fermentative maceration. 12 to 15 days skin contact. Temperature control in whites: 15º to 18ºC. Reds: less than 25ºC the first 2 days and 28º to 30ºC till the end of fermentation.
Treatments: Clarification with Egg whites in powder (ovoalbumin). Light filtration with wood fiber plates.
Wood contact: Short period in used barrels for oxygen exchange only, not to mask fruit varietal aromas and taste. Some reserve wines ferment and store in new Missouri and Allier barrels.
In a world of big factory wines, our business is to keep wine as close to earth and man as possible. This doesn’t mean not to accept technical developments but to always treat wine as one of us.
We never made any concessions in terms of quality and when many wineries grew acquiring big tanks and vats to fill them with poor grapes to compete in the low priced wines market, my father César stubbornly planted low producing Tannats that gave strong wines but less money. Everybody said he was crazy not to plant high yielding varieties, but he knew his best investment was to teach his children to be proud of the wines he produced. I felt that way when being 5 or 6 years old he used to take me along to sell the wines and people said he had the best wines in Uruguay. But few people knew them and since then I felt committed to make our wines known and try to always better their quality. I feel we have greatly succeeded in Uruguay and we intend to emulate so in other countries.
Each of three brothers and father has his own house and live in the vineyards. We are a big family of 16. Our children grow playing among the rows of vines. They already know the names and can distinguish among different varieties at the age of 5. We think we are lucky to be able to work together in the Family and to live out of what we love.
Discover more about: Pisano Family
Contact us: info@pisanofamily.com
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