At the Tenuta Il Poggione, owned by the Franceschi Family, very year is renewed the ritual of opening the "caratelli" (specially shaped barrels) of Vin Santo. This year was the time of the 2003 harvest.
The origins of the Vin Santo are lost in the night of all times, between legend and reality.
Every year, at the end of september, the Trebbiano and Malvasia grapes are harvested. The bunches that are the least dense and the most ripe are placed to dry on straw mats.
After a soft pressing, the must begins its slow and very long natural alcoholic fermentation with the help of the "mother", a special indigenous yeast that has formed itself in the years by the autoselection of the cells of yeasts of which it is composed and which remains always on the bottom of the caratello after every emptying.
On this "mother" is place the new must to ferment, taking the heat and the cold of the seasons which allow it to mature without the hand of man intervening in any way.
A long aging that has begun in january 2004 and has lasted until january 2012, consuming 70% of the initial liquid placed to age in the small caratelli.
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