Once the harvesting of healthy, quality grapes is over, processing begins, with several steps that require our full attention.
HARVESTING is manual only. A pre-sorting in the vineyard is applied.
SORTING of the grapes on the conveyor belt removes leaves or dried vine shoots, as well as grapes which do not pass the quality checks (other varieties or hygiene issues).
DESTEMMING of the grapes eliminates the herbaceous, bitter taste, leaving only the lush berries for the next stage.
CRUSHING of the berries is done only in exceptional years, when the grape must is very concentrated.
PRESSING is done gradually, keeping the must yield under 55%.
MUST SETTLING is the gravitational clarification of grape juice at a maximum of 8oC, using settling enzymes.
FERMENTATION is obtained by adding selected yeasts, chosen specifically for each grape variety. The process is monitored closely, both temperature-wise and with regard to the ratio of processing sugars into alcohol.
Licorna wine undergoes a gentle clarification and maturation process, without any aggressive treatments. The only shock happens, inevitably, during bottling.
