Artisan Quality

From the vine to the wine

The whole winemaking process is led by nature and nobody can influence it. The path from the vine to the ripeness of the wine is shaped by constant natural rules and also by unpredictable events such as rain, sun, hail and temperature.

While looking for multifaceted wines true to terroir and in our case to the Piemonte Attitude, we face only one option: the artisan approach. This is the awareness that each single vineyard, each grape variety, each vintage is different and must be individually treated using patience and respect for nature.

Any other approach will result, as in the past, in a loss of about 70% of the grape’s complexity, occurring from the harvest to the end of the fermentation.

Red Wines Fermentation

After selection, the grapes can head through three different process using stainless steel or oak vats, submerged cap technic, pump-over or délestage.

The whole cluster fermentation: it provides a richness in polyphenol, adding to the tannins of the berries the green stalk ones.

The destemmed berries fermentation: it happens when the grapes are destemmed and then sorted by hand on a second vibrant table for a more precise selection before fermentation. These wines result in a richer and more complex fruit aroma.

The destemmed and softly crushed grapes fermentation: it offers traditional and elegant wines.

Alta Langa Fermentation

In the Alta Langa process we ferment the grape juice obtained by soft pressing the whole cluster in an inert environment (nitrogen).

This process is a bit different for Alta Langa Rosée de Saignée fermentation, in which destemmed and softly crushed grapes are chilled, and leaved for 2 to 4 hours in an inert nitrogen environment before the bleeding and soft pressing process.

Alta Langa Traditional Method

After the first fermentation, the wines obtained remain in contact with their own yeasts and are subjected to periodic bâtonnage until the tirage and second fermentation.

This process takes place in the historic underground cellars in the absence of light and at controlled temperatures for the time required by the different wines in each single vintage (usually from 36 to 144 months).

The “dégorgement à la glace” ends with the dosage of Reserve wine (for Zero Pas Dosé) or the “Liqueur d’expedition”. In term to preserve the terroir-wine link, no distilled wines (such as Cognac or Brandy) are ever used in Enrico Serafino Alta Langa.