Contact Principe Corsini
The Principe Corsini winery produces organic and vegan wine and oil in the estates of Villa Le Corti and La Marsiliana.
Contact us for more information!
Contact usWhole cluster fermentation: what is it and what are its advantages?
Whole cluster fermentation at Villa Le Corti wineries
This modern winemaking technique has been used for all Principe Corsini wines since the 2019 harvest. To implement this method, the historic winemaking cellar at Villa Le Corti has embraced a custom-designed project tailored to its spaces.
Today, a 50-meter conveyor belt runs the entire length of the cellar. After two rounds of manual sorting — first of the whole bunches and then of the individual berries — the latter are transported along this belt, arriving in the fermentation tanks without any crushing or stress.
Advantages of whole cluster fermentation
Whole cluster fermentation leads to wines that are finer and more elegant, with a lower extraction of green tannins compared to traditional winemaking. The result is wines with greater freshness and more fruitiness, as the fermentation is gentler and the aromas are preserved from oxidation.
Additionally, this method ensures that only the softer tannins are extracted. In the absence of crushing, the extraction of tannins (their transfer into the must/wine during fermentation) is limited to the more mature ones found in the skins. The result? A more aromatic wine with greater pleasantness on the palate.
Absence of crushing in whole cluster fermentation
Whole cluster fermentation does not involve crushing. The seeds (pips) of the grapes remain inside the skin and do not come into direct contact with the wine, which will extract polyphenols (tannins and anthocyanins) only from the skins.
This method causes the release of the must from the grape to be slower, allowing for more contact with the skins, which remain immersed in the must/wine more evenly, almost like an “infusion.” At the same time, the lack of extraction of green tannins from the seeds, which are unpleasant to the taste, preserves the quality of the must/wine throughout the entire fermentation process.
Slower alcoholic fermentation
By using the whole cluster fermentation technique, alcoholic fermentation is slower, and the temperature is naturally kept lower throughout the tank. This applies both to the must/wine and to the cap, which refers to the pomace that floats upwards, pushed by the carbon dioxide produced by the yeast fermentation.
Low temperatures help preserve the wine’s aromas and protect its natural antioxidants, tannins, and anthocyanins (pigments in the skins that give red wines their color), from premature oxidation. Once fermentation is complete, the wine is separated from the skins during racking, which have already released their components (aromas, colors, and mature tannins) into the wine.
Whole cluster fermentation for Le Corti Chianti Classico DOCG
Of all the labels produced by Principe Corsini, the wine that benefits most from whole cluster fermentation is Le Corti Chianti Classico DOCG.
The extraction of only the more mature tannins from the skins is a fundamental advantage for a wine like Le Corti, which is enjoyed while still young.
Previously, by remaining only in inert containers (like steel and cement), which preserve the fruit and floral aromas intact, the vintage wine was unable to polymerize the tannins effectively, leaving them more disjointed and less pleasant. Thanks to whole cluster fermentation, Le Corti today expresses the terroir of Chianti Classico immediately, with a contemporary taste that makes it perfect even in its youth.
Purchase Le Corti Chianti Classico DOCG
