Tinaia del Vento and biodiversity, where nature merges with technology
Tinaia del Vento al Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino. Un progetto realizzato da Donatella Cinelli COlombini e Oliver Ogar.
AT CASATO PRIME DONNE IN MONTALCINO
At Casato Prime Donne the “Tinaia del Vento” is immersed among the vineyards and brings together nature and technology. The area is open on four sides to let the must oxygenate naturally during vinification, just as it once occurred in the old wineries where high ceilings and large doors allowed for a complete change of air.
The new modern stainless steel vats are equipped with heating and cooling systems, they are open-topped, with a truncated-cone shape. On the ceiling above there will be a rail along which a mechanical arm runs and pushes the grape-skins down, this permits the vinification to take place without the use of pumps.
AUTOCHTHONOUS YEASTS
The yeasts used will also be reminders of olden times. This project was born from the collaboration between Casato Prime Donne and Oliver Ogar, a young and innovative company in Verona who, thanks to financing from the EU is studying the bio-diversities and the identification of new strains of the indigenous yeasts of the main Italian wine denominations.
In 2007, at Casato Prime Donne, we carried out natural micro-vinifications without the use of selected yeasts. This was done in small vats kept distant from the rest, so as to avoid contamination. The studies carried out in the Oliver Ogar laboratories brought to the selection of a few promising strains, one of which has been used in experimental form during the 2008 harvest on 50 hl of Sangiovese Brunello.
With the “Tinaia del Vento” and the indigenous yeasts Donatella Cinelli Colombini and her all-female staff affirm their desire to return to the old way of doing things and to go back to nature using modern instruments.
