Pruning Vine in the Trapani Countryside

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Pruning Vine in the Trapani Countryside

4 Hilly Estates

With its 420 hectares, divided among the estates of Baglio Sorìa, Borgo Guarini, Dàgala Borromeo and Pianoro Cuddìa, according to Firriato, the hilly terroir of the Trapani countryside represents a composite vinegrowing context: thanks to the different types of clays that determine the soil orders, to which must be added the microclimatic differences between areas even just a few hectares apart. In this emblematic context, for the viticulture of hills run according to the Firriato style care and attention are needed at all times, especially in winter, for those operations performed during the vegetative rest of the vine, such as pruning.

The poor pruning of Borgo Guarini

In the Trapani countryside, each terroir of our estates requires different agronomic practices be adapted to their specific peculiarities. Over the winter season, in Borgo Guarini, the pruning chosen is the poor one which, leaving a few fruit – bearing gems, favors the correct development of the vine and gives Nero d’Avola more calibrated yields in the Cru della Ferla, the Beccaccia and the Lepre. To this, it should be added that the pruning, in each of the three different Cru, is slightly spaced from each other, since the various pedoclimatic conditions favor an organoleptic differentiation of the grapes. And it is precisely from these very high quality grapes that the Harmonium is born, an example of a precision viticulture devoted to excellence. In Borgo Guarini we also breed some of the most important native white grapes: such as Grillo and Zibibbo. While the pruning of the first occurs together with the other varieties, the Zibibbo is pruned last, between the end of February and the beginning of March: in those days, in fact, the microclimatic characteristics of the specific part of the vineyard in which it is bred are ideal for better health control of its clusters. Also in this case, the chosen pruning technique is the poor one which, by limiting the number of fruit – bearing gems, guarantees the perfect balance between quantity and quality: this is how wines such as Altavilla Grillo and passito L’Ecrù are born (from grapes Zibibbo), elegant declinations of that variegated wine – making continent that is Sicily.

Baglio Sorìa, the cradle of Top wine line

In the Baglio Sorìa, we vinegrow Nero d’Avola, along with another important native red grape such as Perricone. It is from these that labels such as Santagostino Rosso and Sorìa Perricone are born, authentically Sicilian wines whose quality must be guaranteed right from the vineyard with surgical pruning. The correct production load, in fact, allows to better control the ripening of the grapes on the plants, in particular, in the case of medium – age varieties such as Nero d’Avola or lat e ones like Perricone: we use the poor pruning, with its limited load of fruitful buds per plant. The same technique, which allows the subsequent interventions to be reduced to a minimum, is also used for an international variety that has made Sicily its land of choice: Cabernet Sauvignon which, blended with Merlot, gives life to our top wine Camelot .

Pianoro Cuddìa, the perfect dormancy of plants

To guarantee the best sanitary control of plants and bunches, the pruning of plants in the Pianoro Cuddìa estate this year did not start as usual towards the beginning of November: we decided to wait for the right temperatures to avoid altering the perfect dormancy some plants. The technique we apply here is of a mixed type: each fruit – bearing item has a higher gem load for white grape varieties such as Grillo, and lower for red – berry varieties such as Nero d’Avola.

Dàgala Borromeo, the mixed pruning

Dàgala Borromeo represents the perfect context for raising an international variety such as Chardonnay which, not surprisingly, gives light to the elegant Chiaramonte. In this terroir, the vines – which have great vigor thanks to the peculiar pedoclimatic conditions of the estate – require complex pruning work. In order to guarantee the best balance between production, quality and duration of the vine itself, even in the case of Chardonnay we use a mixed pruning system that leaves in each plant the fruitful buds necessary to guarantee the right load of bunches for greater quality control of the grapes.

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