Towards the harvest: a balancing act of maturities

When we think about ripe fruit we immediately think of fruit that is ready for consumption, since it’s reached its optimal levels of sweetness, softness and tastiness. When one applies the same concept to grapes that will be used for making wine, though, the factors that need to be evaluated before starting the harvest are much more numerous. The ratio between sugars and acids in the grapes is one of the main ones, but other factors must also be considered, such as the levels of tannins – which contribute to the overall taste of the wine – the color (tied to the maturity of the seeds) and the evaluation of the levels of aromas, sugars, acidity and Ph.

This makes it necessary for the professionals of the vineyards, like the agronomist of Cantina Pedres Francesco Cadeddu and Marco Mancini, not only to work daily, promptly and methodically, but to proceed as if on a tightrope, in a delicate balancing act between action and reaction and between observation and measurement.

Every day our relationship with the vineyard and its fruits has to deal with an ever more uncertain and unstable weather, one that is oftentimes unpredictable both in terms of temperatures and rainfall, which are extremely important for the final quantity and quality of the wine that we’ll make. A rainy spring, a scorching-hot summer or a disease of the plants can create significant problems in the cellar – and, most importantly, for the finished product.

Phytosanitary treatments are often used to correct some of the imperfections of the grapes that arise during this key period, but at Cantina Pedres we prefer preventing problems rather than treating them. This is our philosophy: thanks to our technical expertise and to constant vigilance in the vineyards we can ward off or limit many issues, thus guaranteeing healthy, high-quality raw material and the best possible wine year after year.

It’s precisely this kind of constant vigilance, and this union of natural factors and technical expertise, that has allowed us to create wines that have been awarded multiple times for their great price/quality ratio, like our Vermentino Sangusta and Vermentino 0789 awarded by the Guide Berebene Gambero Rosso for the best value for money.