In late September, pruning starts. The Zerba has adhered to a three-year project of conversion and staff training to Simonit & Sirch method based on the study of the sap flow in plants to get more vigorous vines and to reduce increasingly common diseases of flavescenza and pain of 'bait. In the pictures you notice the plants with the "double spur", typical of this method.
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In these photos you can see the chopping of the pruned branches and the shoots where the little new bunches are already visible.
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Vegetation starts growing, then the operator must clean the logs, insert the shoots between the wires and place spacers where needed.
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During the month of June it's necessary to control the expansion of the vegetation by several passages with the trimmer. The grape clusters are completely formed by now.
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July: besides the various treatments with sulfur and copper spraying against oidium (powdery mildew) and peronospera (downy mildew), this year we anticipated the leaf-stripping to allow air to circulate and the sun to penetrate. The clusters are swelling and the green harvest of the exceeding clusters take place.
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Towards the middle of September 2016 we anticipated the harvest of the Cortese, the grapes were beautiful and healthy. The harvest yielded an excellent wine! The harvest of the Barbera followed in a short while. One of the last photos shows the use of the mechanical de-stemmer, which separates the skins from the stems, allowing the former to be added to the must for the cryo-maceration of Gavi Terrarossa.
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In early October we start to prepare the terrain for the fertilization with livestock manure from pastures on our Appennines.
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