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exploring taste—santa margherita gruppo vinicolo

“Technology has made a great deal of progress; machines that pick grapes

can deliver excellent results nowadays”, says Andrea Daldin, “but we choose not to use them.”

are vineyards, the first attribute that defines these vineyards even when that might not be the case. "The harvest that pleas-
– aside from the soil rich in clay – is the altitude, ranging from antly surprised me was actually the hardest one", continues
400 to 650 meters which influences the mesoclimate and mi- Daldin. "2014 was a positive year from a climatic point of view,
croclimate. From May to late August, Lamole experiences an with and plenty of clouds and rain, but for every winemaker
inversion in temperature, with the heat of the valley rising to it was a dramatic vintage. We delayed the harvest to early Oc-
higher altitudes during the evening, whilst during the period tober, enjoying the prolonged sunny period: those grapes were
in between September 1st and the harvest season is marked by among the best we’ve ever had".
a clear temperature change, with abrupt temperature differ- In the present harvest, a group of people move rapidly through
ences between day and night. Monte San Michele protects the the vineyard picking the grapes mechanically but with care-
area from cold winds, making it particularly suitable for the ful attention. The right hand parts the leaves as a hairdresser
cultivation of the vine. would do with long hair, then cuts the stalk. The cluster falls
The timing of the harvest naturally also depends heavily on into a big red plastic bucket, a few grapes, however, end up in
the climate, "In order to achieve the perfect process, one must the mouth. They are sour and sweet at the same time. This is
pay attention not only to the new machinery available, but also the very first stage of the harvest – according to the proto-
to the aroma and phenolic ripeness of the grapes" says Andrea col, one can pick up 75 kg of Sangiovese grapes per hectare,
Daldin, who has been making wine for 22 years at Lamole di at most. In the case of Lamole di Lamole, the picking process
Lamole. "The harvest period is very precise. In order to time it is done entirely by hand. "Technology has made a great deal
perfectly, ancient winemakers observed the behavior of ani- of progress; machines that pick grapes can deliver excellent
mals such as deer and wild boar, the most reliable tool to decide results nowadays", says Andrea Daldin, "but we choose not to
whether grapes were ready or not at the time. Today the tech- use them. Not only they are not suited to the type of land we
niques employed by the Tuscan company to decide the right have here in Lamole, where the edifices and vineyards are so
time to pick grapes are very sophisticated and highly scientif- close to each other, but we also wanted to respect the plants.
ic; aromatic and phenolic progress is monitored on a constant The human factor matters a lot to us, even in grape harvests
basis". However, numbers and projections must be combined machines can’t select the grapes as a person would”. Next
with a good deal of intuition to produce a memorable harvest, year will be crucial for Lamole di Lamole as the Tuscan wine

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