Third insight on the Classic Method:wine behind the bubble.We sometimes tend to forget that behind the little bubbles in the glass can be hidden(or less) a great wine.It is therefore important to go beyond the bubble to fully understand how that wine expresses its terroir. YOU are my cellar! Thank you!
The MINI ME. GA. Course takes place on Zoom and is reserved for the ME.GA. Drinkers.
As you can imagine,it is not simple to have a video call with hundreds of people: for this reason I decided to reduce the number of participants and therefore I gave priority to the members of the ME.GA. Drinkers Club. I will try and do my best to revisit the highlights of the lessons on this blog, so that you can at least get an idea of what we talked about, and hopefully learn something new on the world of the Classic Method.
Here the highlights of Volume III - "The wine behind the bubble"
"Sparkling wine is not wine". What do they (probably) mean by saying that?
The Classic Method is considered an invasive winemaking method, and that is partially true.
If you think about it, in fact there are many processes between the grapes and the bottle and if we analyze objectively, most of the Classic Method productions are the result of cellar interventions.
Can you do a “natural” Classic Method?
I'd like to start from this concept: natural wine evolution is vinegar. Every wine, therefore, is the result of manipulation.Furthermore, the wine itself does not produce grapes to make wine for us,but to reproduce. Men have trained and selected the vines over the centuries.
As I have said many times, I prefer to speak of "Artisanality" rather than "Naturalness".
What do we mean by artisanal Classic Method?
It is certainly more complicated because we are dealing with many more variables . I put a lot of humility into it: I'm willing to take steps back in the winemaking process, always with the enhancement of my terroir in mind and not necessarily the taste of the consumer or my style.
How important is the company size in an artisanal process?
Siz is very important. You can make artisanal wine even on important productions, but you have to be very, very good.
Since the processes are laborious and the variables of an artisanal production are so many, having a "small" size (around 50,000 bottles) gives more control over every single bottle and, last but not least, more contact with the public.
What does "wine behind the bubble" mean to you?
Unfortunately, the Classic Method, more than other types of methods, runs the risk of being standardized. If we think of the final product rather than the terroir, wine production is reduced to a set of procedures to be followed to the letter.
My idea of wine is communication and expression of the soil. The Classic Method needs to be preserved and saved.
What do you mean by "The Classic Method needs to be saved"?
It's a strong phrase, but I would like it to stick.
The Classic Method is the most replicated in the world, precisely because it can easily be reduced to a set of procedures. If we don't want a world where all the bubbles are the same, let's try to make this battle our own and reason, talk, share every calice.
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