WINERY AND LABORATORY

When the grapes leave the vines, it’s time to work inside the winey for Carlo and his brothers, Ornello and Angelo. The three brothers are supported by a family team, sons and grandsons: Milena, Nicola and Alessia. External partners join only during the harvest time.

The Ferragù estate winery is a structure that divides and unites tradition, with gear and instruments of past times inserted in an ancient structure of romanic origin with bold and solid stone walls, to the most modern machines and technologies, in a happy and suggestive bond.

Traditon and modernity. Old and new. Tracks of the past mixed and dosed in a superlative way, to recreate the perfection of an intense and impenetrable ruby red, a sublime and fascinating flavor and a full and persistent taste.
On the first floor of the Ferragù’s winery, the grapes are left raising-drying. Then, the must is moved into the fermentino. After about thirty-five hours of “cold” maceration at controlled temperature, it will start a ten days fermentation. During this time, the temperature of the fermenting grapes is checked with rigorous punctuality.

This step allows the extraction of the colouring substances, the tannines and all of the aromatic elements directly from the peel.
Fermentines and tanks are all made of steel.

For the refinement process are used only casks made of french and american oak. Of the same capacity, the 225 litres barriques are the only casks that can carry the name.

Their essence gives more prominence to the Ferragù product’s flavor and taste. There are two drying rooms, located inside the winery in order to take advantage of the silent air which makes the necessary drying process perfect.

The reading of the data collected in the laboratory determines the most appropriate harvesting period, according to the drying practice. The fermentation is followed inside this tiny workshop, as well as the development of the wines in their “aging” phase.

The experience used to obtain the right drying of the grapes destined to become the leading wine of the Ferragù estate, is extremely high and so it must be. The drying process is a fundamental step, in this zone is considered as a second harvest indeed.

The grapes must be perfecly healty and mature not only on the peel, but also on the inside. They are selected during the harvest, within the first three weeks of October: the selected bunches are called “spargoli”, the ones which grapes are separated each other, in order to let the air circulate through them.

This precious fortune is arranged over large white plateaux, no more made of wood but of traforated plastic, more practical to define the right level of ventilation and ensure an more rapid and effective wash after the use. The repeated, rigorous and rigid check of shoots and buds; the limited output, of course, the drying and fermentation tecniques following solid natural principles, the barrique aging.

Everything result in a quality product, high expression and right resemblance of intentions of the Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Croatina a and Oseleta grapes.

ESTATES AND WINERY

The Ferragù’s estates cover a 8 hectares area per vineyard and around one hectar of oil cultivation land. They don’t decorate just the lazy pattern of trellis, kissed by the summer sun, but also immerse us in the silence around Sorcè di Sopra, 220 metres above the sea level.

The Ferragù estate winery is divided into two department floors: the higher part, the newest and most modern one, contains the essential gear to work on every phase of the transformation from must to wine; the second part, the oldest, with bold and solid vault walls and ancient shiny wooden doors that repair and guard the casks in a suggestive place, especially when illuminated, almost veiled by a golden blanket; a place where the silence reigns and it is as sacred as the temperature that here stirs, drenching every stone.

Here, the Ferragù’s Amarone and Valpolicella refine, resting for months and months.

  • Thirteen-thousand logs per hectare.
  • Double green pruning.
  • The most accurate selection directly on the vineyard.
  • Over two-months drying process.
  • Almost 40% of the initial weight lost.
  • Four years in french and american oak barriques.
  • One year in the bottle.

The wine-making process is distinguished by an accurate selection of grapes during the harvest in the vineyard.

The property vineyards, thanks to their position, are exposed to the sun from dawn to dusk. This peculiar position gives the Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Croatina and Oseleta grapes all the necessary features to make them express the most of their potential.

Later, an accurate monitoring during the drying process takes place, lasting more than two months and changing following the checks on the temperature and humidity. It is an important phase. Only in this way can result a unique product, ready for fermentation, a long and fundamental process where the cure of the details and attention to every particular grant the evolution and the excellent performance of Ferragù’s wine. Carlo works on his estates and produces the wine personally looking after every single detail.

This is the only way he creates an irreproachable product, a wine that resembles character and personality, a wine capable to transmit innate passion; because whoever drinks the Ferragù’s wine necessarily must accomplish a fascinating journey through quality.