LIGURIA DI LEVANTE IGT "POGGI ALTI" 2020 - SANTA CATERINA

Appellation : Liguria di Levante IGT

Vintage : 2020

Alcohol : 13%

Region : Liguria (Italy)

Format : 0.75 l

Grapes : 100% Vermentino

Organic wine

Vineyard : Santa Caterina in the municipality of Sarzana – Surface area 0.4 hectares
Pruning and yield per plant : Guyot pruning. Average yield per plant: 1.6 kg
Planting density : about 4,000 plants/hectare
Soil and subsoil : hilly formation of alluvial origin characterized by red clays
Vinification : Destemming and contact of the must with the skins for about a week, in steel barrels. Spontaneous start of fermentation, then racking and pressing of the pomace. Aging partly in steel and partly in stoneware jars and then in the bottle. Addition of a small dose of sulfur dioxide before bottling
Sulphites : <40 mg/l total
Average quantity : 3,500 bottles
Type of bottle and closure : Bordeaux bottle with Nomacorc stopper

The Santa Caterina farm takes its name from its main farm, in the municipality of Sarzana, in Lunigiana. It consists of about 12 hectares, of which 7 are vineyards and one is olive trees, a result achieved through progressive replanting, with which both crops have intensified.
Since 1990 Andrea Kihlgren ( in the photo ) has managed the three farms that are part of the company: Giuncàro (0.7 ha flat surface, sandy-pebble alluvial soil), Segalàra (0.4 hectare slope, clayey sandy alluvial soil) , Ghiarétolo (1.5 hectares of flat sandy-pebbly alluvial soil) and Santa Caterina (4.5 hectares of alluvial red clay on the hills). Here are located the cellar and the other company buildings.

In agricultural management we try to preserve the fertility of the soil through grassing, sowing for periodic renewal of herbs, contributions of composted substances and other practices aimed at the same purposes. The treatments to contain the fungal diseases of the plants are based on copper and sulfur. In a critical and lively way, since the early 2000s Kihlgren has been following the guiding principles and practices of biodynamic agriculture in the countryside.
In addition to the natural priority reserved for the Vermentino vine, which increasingly shows its particular vocation in this land over time, work is being done in the vineyard to recover some old native varieties (Merla, Albarola), through a research that has not yet finished .
The work in the cellar is oriented towards maximum respect for the grapes and the wine, without the use of oenological products, except sometimes for modest doses of sulfur dioxide during the vinification phase and before bottling. The result is a production of around 25,000 bottles