... and I'm not talking about its features, which are looking amazing anyway in many regions and Italian denominations. You got it: I'm alluding to the present situation, where everything seems to has been disrupted or going to be. yet, the natural rhythms go on as nothing happened, and it's harvest time, again. Although it could be nothing new, it’s always interesting “to see” the grape harvest throughout the eyes and the words of people who work in the vineyards and in the cellar. Planeta has set a series of appointments in their different locations: if you are curious how it’s going on day by day, this is a good chance to know it. The following are Alessio Planeta’s words:
”10th August was the first day!
After carefully and a little anxiously watching over the last stages of the ripening of the grapes, we are beginning the Planeta 2020 harvest at Buonivini (Noto).
The first name on our dance card will be Moscato di Noto, from which we make our Alemanda. That already looks like a good omen – Allemanda is the name of a dance, and an opening dance at that.11th August we went west to Menfi, to start the Chardonnay harvest, after that, the weather conditions and constant monitoring in the field will set the agenda for the Planeta team.The one thing certain is the conclusion of the harvest with Etna at the end of October: in almost three months. Just in time to catch our breath and then the team will take on harvesting and pressing the olives.
That’s it, the team. This year the team will be describing the harvest. 2020 is not like other years: the events linked to COVID have affected us all. Wine-making companies followed one of two routes: there were those who followed the rhythms of nature and never stopped for a moment; and, on the contrary, those who followed the rhythms of man and were forced into inactivity.T he vineyard and winery team has been really extraordinary: you could say they kept the whole company going. This is why we are going to tell you about the 2020 harvest through their eyes and their thoughts.
Planeta produces wine in five different areas of Sicily (Menfi, Vittoria, Noto, Etna and Capo Milazzo); in each of these places there are people, vines and wineries, all diverse and unique, representative of the thousand faces of Sicily.We will follow the day of each of the leaders in the separate territories, and through them we will tell the story of the 2020 harvest, the harvest of the men and the women who make up the Planeta team.
Vito Gambino, originally from Roccamena and with us for twenty years, will tell us about the harvest at Menfi. Alessandro Serughetti from Cinisi, fresh back from Margaret River in Australia and on his third Planeta harvest, will unveil Cerasuolo di Vittoria. From Noto we will hear from Calogero Riportella, a native of Sciacca, following in his father’s footsteps: Filippo Riportella is the agricultural head of our vineyards and olive groves, the irreplaceable support and right hand man of our founder, Diego Planeta. For Etna, a viewpoint that can only be diverse: that of Patricia Tóth from Hungary, who has been in Sicily for fifteen years.
To emphasize the peculiarity of this year, the writer himself will be be harvesting the grapes at Capo Milazzo and telling you about the experience. Going back in time and serving as a first stage winemaker will be my own way of remembering the 2020 harvest which, we all agree, could not be allowed to pass like all the others.
It will be a vintage described by those involved, but the two great novelties are the new vines, planted in recent years and now finally in production.· In the Menfi area there are 28 hectares in the Cirami district, above Ulmo and Maroccoli, an enchanted place with no human traces except for the vines. Nearby is the Greek (or perhaps Phoenician) wine press dug from the living rock in the Risinata district, dating from about 2,500 years ago. The view over Lake Arancio and the Canale di Sicilia from a height of 450 metres is quite breathtaking.· On Etna almost ten hectares in a single block at Feudo di Mezzo; nomen omen, and a district right in the centre of the magnificent wine-growing area of north Etna, one of the largest vineyards planted entirely with Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio. Overall this is 38 hectares of splendid wine growing land, a further important step towards the best quality.
And so, we are ready . . . let’s start!There will soon be news from the fields, through social media and directly with live Zoom coverage, reserved for those who are working, which will allow for conversations with them.
The provisional calendar for these live coverage (Italian time), which may vary according to the progress of the harvest, is as follows:
25th August - 6PM Calogero Riportella, from Buonivini (Noto)
7th September - 6PM Vito Gambino, from Dispensa (Menfi)
16th September - 6PM Alessio Planeta, from La Baronia (Capo Milazzo)
28th September - 6PM Alessandro Serughetti, from Dorilli (Vittoria)
13th October - 6PM Patricia Tóth, from Feudo di Mezzo (Etna)
We'll talk about quality and quantity only at the end of the harvest!