From the vineyards to your glass. What happens after the harvest?

What is the very first and most important stages of any winemaking process after the harvest? It's the distemming and the pressing of the grapes, of course!

Steven and I just visited the wonderful Cantine De Gregorio vinery in January, tasting great wines and learning more about the process of winemaking chatting with their eonologist Nino. La Sicilyana is proud to be the exclusive importer of their wines to the UK, by the way!

Everything starts with a destemmer, the machine that separates the grapes from the stems.

Simple in principle.

The latest technology like this helps both farmers and winemakers handle the fruit gently, preserving aromas and, ultimately, ensure wine quality.

After months of careful work in the vineyard, waiting for the precise moment of ripeness, the grapes are hand-harvested and placed into small crates.

In quality wines, hand harvesting is essential. It requires skill, time and higher costs, but - because expert farmers do it - it ensures that only healthy, intact fruit reaches the winery.

The crates are then emptied into this high-spec mechanical container attached to a tractor, and transported to the winemaking area.

The container lifts and feeds the grapes into the destemmer, where stems and fruit are separated. The grape is crushed into pulp and sucked into a pipe connected to the tank, ready for fermentation, while the stems are removed.

🍷 And this is just the beginning, there is still a long journey before your favourite wine reaches the glass!