Wine cellar

THE BEGINNING

When my granfather Mario started to “make wine cellar” the grapeshave been picked in big wicker baskets, carried from an oxcart and pressed with feet in the wine cellar. All the work was manual, simple and hard. We are in the postwar period and we tried to recover the faith and the solutions to build a better future. That storic poverty, lived with the serenity of a farmer, used to relying only on his own, motivates my ancestor to achieve the dream of trasforming grapes, of his vineyards, in genuine and agreeable wine, immediately enjoyed from friends and relatives. The advent of agricultural machinery and its evolution allowed my father Alfiero to continuing and increasing the activity, farming and productive, started years before from my grandfather.

The agricultural evolution

The coming of agricultural machinery and the evolution of oenological equipment were very helpful both in the producing of vineyards and in the managment of wine produce in the wine cellar. This evolution don’t deflect me from the main pillars of our work. The good care of grapevine, the short pruning that allow to not weaken the plant, avoiding excessive production of lower-quality, the manual intermediate thinning that allow bunches to receive the light of sunthe optimal maturation of grapes that must be to enrich of sugar, are only few of the care that our farm dedicated to our grapes, aware that only from a good starting-point we can obtain excellent wine.

The oenological evolution

It is obvious that a modern production can not refrain from using advanced machinery. Without an appropriate filtering wine would produce excessive waste on the bottom, as was the case of old bottles produced by my grandfather. Today, this, is not visually acceptable. We can say the same thing for old barrels, encrusted with residue, which would make undrinkable even the best wine. The wine, for its perishable nature, must always be protected as well as possible from foreign smells and tastes, because it has a way of absorbing everything around it. The usage of new barrels called “barriques”, used for refining the wine, often enhances the taste, as well as the perfect cleaning of steel containers and the hygiene procedure of cleaning are essential. The modern oenological equipment like steel barrels, filters and pumps have an hygienic and protective part very important in the processing of a good wine because they would preserve his integrity and his authenticity.

The chemical evolution

I wish to make just one different consideration about the evolution of oenological chemistry, of which I have a certain fear about how it attempts, in a persuasive way, to corrupt my basics. My belief is producing excellent and genuine wine. But having said that, the modern oenology must be managed, not subjected. The sellers of this chemical substances, claim that, today, the market requires transparent, stable, medium sweet, velvety wine…and that we can obtain this only with the help of chemistry. I can’t deny that this use of chemistry could be indispensable for big wineries that sell millions of bottles in Italy and in the world. This is their reality, not ours!

OUR REALITY

The responsability does not allow me to forget the basic principles of reliability and professionalism that caratherize our firm.

My philosophy proposes again the starting purpose of my grandfather, ascribable to three big dreams;
Transform grapes from my vineyards in excellent and genuine wine with reliability and passion, bottle and sell this wine to old and new friends that appreciate it and live a peaceful life with my family and my friend, giving my thought small contribution to the development of made in Italy.

This is what I do every day from many years and what I hope to do much longer in future.

Massimo Comaschi