Making wine, making wines: the alternative methods

Teoria and technique are very important in the world of wine, since they are the prerequisites for creating quality products. The third fundamental element can only come through time and it is experience: it is only after producing vintage after vintage that one can acquire the proficiency that is necessary not only to do well, but to innovate too, by applying different methods to grape varieties that one knows deeply in order to create “variations on a theme”.

Knowing a terroir and its varieties through the passage of time is exactly what allows one to create wines that can bring out the best of any varietal, even when it is used to make wine in forms that are different from those that are most widely known or used – and without compromises about quality. This is what we do at Cantina Pedres when it comes, for example, to our rosés and sparklings, since we can count on over one century’s worth of experience with Gallura and its varieties.

For our Brino Rosé, made from Cannonau grapes, we decided to keep the typical aromas of red fruits and violet front and center. Therefore we used cryomaceration, where must is kept in contact with grape skins for little time and at a very low temperature: this maximizes the transfer of primary aromas, and gives the wine a vivid and intense pink hue. The end result of this choice is a refreshing wine with good structure, perfectly capable of being the protagonist of a thousand different occasions while also maintaining the character and indisputable typicality of Cannonau.

For our brut sparklings made from Vermentino we decided instead to focus on the versatility and salty note that are eponymous with the varietal. In order to do so we chose the method invented by the Italian Martinotti, also known as Charmat method: the fermentation in this case begins from must that is put into special containers called autoclaves. Through an attentive and careful craftmanship we can obtain sparklings with a fine, elegant perlage (the term used to describe the texture and size of the bubbles).

The same method is also used for our Moscato wines, which – in accordance with the Gallurese tradition – are created with a comparatively high degree of sugar content.