In the cellar – Campinuovi vini bio maremma

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Back in Tuscany from his Piemontese experience, Daniele meets the man he considers is Maestro: Giulio Gambelli. Together they work in Montalcino, at Case Basse, Gianfranco Soldera’s estate and in Mercatale Valdarno at Fattoria Petrolo, owned by the Sanjust family. Daniele learns with Gambelli that the wine is born in the vineyard, from soil, sun, rain and wind. He also learns how to care for each plant so that, in the most natural way, it gives its best, the best grapes. In Campinuovi Daniele’s dream comes true: making a wine in the manner he learnt from Giulio.

– Giulio Gambelli (1925-2012) with Daniele Rosellini during a Montecucco wine tasting.

The work in the cellar follows the same philosophy: follow the “birth” of the wine in the most natural possible way. Winemaking is performed separately for each grape variety and plot, so that we can respect and follow the characteristics of each one. Fermentations start spontaneously with indigenous yeasts and take place in Slavonian oak vats. The young wine is kept on fine lees in 70 hl wooden vats. The malolactic fermentations starts spontaneously. We let the wine age for at least one year before its release (the Riserva ages one more year in 20 hl wooden vat). We do neither fine nor filter the wine. Sulphites levels are moderate.

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– Daniele during a remontage

Wine making

The grapes are vinified separately by variety and plot respecting the characteristics of the individual grapevines. During destemming we add only a few grams of potassium metabisulfite. After that the grapes are put into 7000 litres conical vats made of Slavonian oak where they spontaneously ferment using the natural yeasts present in grapes and in the wine cellar. We do not add any kind of additives such as enzymes, yeast nutrients, tannins, etc. The maceration of the skins is carried out by pumping, and punching down the fermenting must according to the needs that are evaluated by monitoring the natural course of the temperature, the degradation of sugars and especially the organoleptic characteristics of the must. Racking is done at the end of fermentation to separate the grain from wine grapes which undergo a soft pressing with pneumatic press.

Ageing

The young wine is left on the lees for the malolactic fermentation that occurs spontaneously in the 2000 litres oak vats. Usually, the malolactic fermentation is completed by Christmas. Afterwards the same vats and oak barrels are used for the subsequent stages of wine ageing. We do not use barriques. Stainless steel tanks are used for transferring the wine and short term storage.

Bottling

The bottling is done without fining or filtering the wine after one year minimum of ageing (24 months minimum for the Reserve). Total suplhites are kept to the bare minimum, usually less than 50 mg/litre. The selling starts after at least three months of rest (six months for the Reserve).