As our journey with renovating the farmhouse started to move on at a healthy pace, we arranged a meeting with our oenologist, Giacomo, to initiate creating our first wine. We should explain that there are two academic professionals in which all wine making farms rely upon, an Oenologist and an Agronomist.

Oenologist

This person consults us all the way though the process of harvesting the grapes, making the wine, ageing processing, bottling, sourcing and certifications, making sure of the quality and standardised process. Basically the entire wine making process after the grapes are harvested is designed by this person. They are normally experts in wine tasting and are able to design wine making processes based on the taste you are trying to achieve, i.e. what day to harvest the grape, how long fermentation should be, what barrels to choose for aging and how long they should be aged, what blends to create and how long to store in bottle before sale. They are also very well connected in the industry!

Agronomist

This person is an expert in farming and plans everything to do with growing the grapes. They are kept up to date with the latest organic treatment trends, EU subsidies for farming as well as what pests or insects are around that could invade our plants. They design the organic treatments we apply to prevent attack of our plants, such as organic fertilisers and help us apply for subsidies to develop our farm. They are a high level manager that has a birds eye view of the vineyard and keeps us updated with latest technologies, trends and law, as we are busy doing the actual work.

Blind Tasting

To start the process our Oenologist, Giacomo, arranged a wine tasting at our home to try different blends of red and white wine to see what we like and dislike, ultimately to decide which blend and flavor we aim to make our wine. All the wines he chose, our farm and location were capable of producing with the grapes we have.

The wine tasting was completely blind, we had no idea of which grapes we were tasting or where the wine came from, this was to help us focus solely on the flavor profile and the nose of the wine (look at us, with our fancy terms!) without taking other factors into consideration. 

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Giacomo guided us, by explaining the differences, the more detailed processes involved and which wines are more expensive on the market. Of the flavors we preferred and did not prefer, he left us with 20 different bottles of wine - we took our time over a couple of days to get through them all as being sober obviously helps with decision making! We must remember to spit the wine out when tasting and not drink it, as this could effect our taste of the other wines.

We had to try them in our own time to tunnel down exactly how we wanted our wine to taste. By the second session that we arranged with Giacomo, we had decided which grapes we would use and the flavor of our wine. We also discussed the quality and price range of developing the wine, since it will be our first wine we undoubtedly want it to be distinctive and delightful. At the second session, Giacomo brought more wines, this time homing into our taste, but with different, more subtle blends. We continued tasting, until we got to a wine which we thought tasted great and Giacomo thought was sophisticated and a fantastic medium range wine.

The first wine will be red (our second red and first white wine will develop and blend over the next 2-3 years) it will be a Super Tuscan I.G.T Organic Wine, made from 60% Merlot grape and 40% Cabernet grape. The colour will be a romantic, deep ruby red with violet reflections together. The wine will be influenced with a rich essence of black fruits such as blackberry, blueberry and black currants, these flavors shall be harmonious, fruity and sapid with a tannic touch.

Designing our label

As mentioned in a previous blog, ‘The Mosaic Jaguar’, our friend Mike once suggested that we use the symbol of a mosaic road (Via Francigena) as the centerpiece of our wine label, we couldn’t have agreed more - thank you Mike! We then contacted the designer of our label, Hayley, to help us start.

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The first wine label created is on the top left of the photo above, it was a rather basic design, we wanted a label that was unique, but also reflected our mosaic styling as well as a subtle hint to the Via Francigena path! Over time, we agreed that we were pleased with the shape and design of the mosaic, we used diverse shades of red as it would represent our red wine, however we were still undecided of the colour. Next, we added the biological stamp as our wine will be made through biological farming methods and organic products. We changed the title La Torre from a rather boring font to an italic more elegant font.

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As some time passed by, we contemplated more about the colour of the mosaic road, we really wanted it to be eye catching! Hayley, our graphic designer, combined the red with the colour of the Via Francigena Road where we are based, we asked to add a few shiny golden tiles and it definitely turned out eye catching! 

We are truly happy with the final product and believe that our guests and future customers will be too, especially when they taste it!