The Wine Show: Tuscany Special Part 2

Well, we did have some wine to finish, so after a lazy afternoon in Bulgaria and the most glorious sunset, the next morning we jump into the no-expense-spared production vehicle and head towards Igrepi, down one of the most iconic roads in Italy. Wow, look at that. That is something else, isn't it? Look at that. This is the Viale di Cipresi. It's almost five kilometres in length. It's shaded on both sides by 2,400 cypress trees, most of which date back to the 19th century. Part of the Appian Way, maybe it is. This is the Aurelian Way. What's that? Via Aurelia. I don't know if this is. I think it connects to the Via Aurelia. And it goes from Rome to Provence. Oh, yeah. And the motorway is now, I think it's called, sort of, Autostrada... Aurelia. Aurelia, yeah. That's lovely. It's amazing, isn't it? I mean, why live anywhere but Italy? Well... Actually, because I'm the Prince of Wales. Are you going to an acting school? Yeah. Why do you live in Sweden? You could live in Italy, for goodness sake. No, it has crossed my mind. You should start a vineyard. Why don't you have a vineyard? You should definitely have a wine show vineyard. We should do that. It ends here. This is where it ends. This is where it ends. The road to Rome. And then this is an avenue of plane trees. Isn't that amazing? It's so beautiful. You know, I've never noticed that. You are an Alborealist. I don't think... I don't really know. He's a fun character to play. Wonderful character. But no, I'm available for the wine show. A drop of a hat. If we do drop any, there'll be some hats. Perfect for working in the vineyard here in the Igreppi estate. So this is exactly what I was telling you about. As we enter the vineyard. Igreppi. Bulgari. And from here, you're going to be able to see all the things. So right in front of us. Range of hills. Protecting this plain here. From the weather from the interior. So it creates this rather protected little bowl. With the Colina metalliferi protecting it. The vineyard is currently 24 hectares with plans to expand. This is flat down here. Slightly clay, sandy soils. Which have been drained. So they're not particularly rich. Good for wine growing. Behind us is the sea. So there's sort of cool breezes coming in. How charming. Igreppi was bought by its current owners in 2016. And is following in the region's outward looking traditions. Not only does it have an Irish owner. The team is international too. Working with Italian marketing director Marco Filippeschi. His California winemaker Keaton Crow. And estate manager Welshman Dale Heatley. Before we get to the winery. Dale is keen to show Dominic the vineyard. Where some of the last grapes of this vintage are ready to be harvested. So what grapes are these? So at the moment we're in our Cabernet Franc block. So this has been a real success story in this area. Can I taste? Yeah, absolutely. Fruity. So Cabernet Franc. This grows particularly well in this type of soil. Look at this. This is pure sand. There's not a lot of clay in there. So where we're standing right now. Is on the coast. We're about a mile off the beach. It's a delicious grape. But it's very sensitive. And so it needs a certain amount of sunlight per day. It needs to be on a west coast aspect. So it gets that sunset in the evening. You can compare it to Napa Valley. Igrepi's vineyard is one of the founding members of the governing body for this region. The Denominazione di Origine Controllata, DOC. It was founded in 1995 and has grown from its original 7 members to more than 60. It's an incredibly exciting time. Us today can create what could become a 500,000 year legacy. They could be talking about the first 25 years. A thousand years from now of Bulgari DOC. So these grapes are ready to harvest? They are. How do you harvest them? Great question. I mean harvesting comes out of a simple choice. Machine harvest or hand harvest. While the machines have evolved over the last couple of years. And they do a decent job. If you want to make a premium top quality red wine or white wine. You have to hand harvest. And that's it. The reason for that is very, very simple. Have you ever seen a machine harvester? So they just go up and down the vines and they just suck all of the grapes off. But the biggest problem is the grapes get broken. And we know that. That's not a negative to machine harvesting. Now what happens there? The moment the skin is broken. That starts fermenting. So that starts becoming wine. On the spot. But of course you've got no control over that. And you don't want the grapes to be fermenting in a tank under the sun in 40 degree heat. So the key to the harvesting is getting the grapes in the cantina as quick as possible. Under the coolest temperatures possible. And how exact in timing does it have to be? I mean you don't do it by the moon or anything like that. Do you say today must be picked or is it a bit looser than that? No, no. I mean our harvesting will be when the sugar level hits a certain ripeness. The grape hits a certain ripeness, the sugar levels are correct. And then we'll make the call and we'll get everybody in. And those grapes have to hit the cantina in the morning so we can work on them in the day. The first 24 hours, 40 hours are absolutely critical with grapes. Are you harvesting today? We are, we're harvesting today. Cabernet Franc. Can I come and help you? Let's go and have a look. Let's do it. Let's get in very closely there. Give it a snip where the main vine comes off to the smaller vine. So this is the reason why we hand harvest. So they don't burst or they don't break. And they go straight in there. Give it a try. Hand harvesting is labour intensive, so every pair of hands, even the soft-skinned ones of this actor, are welcome. Look at that. Cabernet Franc. If you're free next September, come out for the month and you can join the picking staff. Have you ever thought of owning a vineyard yourself? I'd love to. I've got a little area of Chippenham I'm thinking about. Any grape varietals in particular? It's a dock, it's a dock. The Chippenham dock, do you know it? One member, yeah. That's great. That's awesome. So once you've got about eight or ten bunches in there, so you don't want to risk breaking any more, they'll then come into this big bin, the main bin. So you just empty that into there. Great job. That is such a nice site, look at that. So we can expect to get maybe about 100 kilograms in there when it's all full. So ten of them will make about a ton. These will all be filled up along all of the rows. Taste one of those. I'd say about 23% sugar. Well, it'll be the sugar level. We do a Babbo test when we get in there a bit later. The sunlight level is directly responsible for the sugar level. So the more sun, the more sugar. The more sugar, the more alcohol. I'm not sure if you'll believe me when I tell you this, but later in the day, we did test the sugar levels and amazingly it was 23%. So either you're a good guesser or Dominic, you need to get on and plant those Chippenham vines. I tell you, I love it. Feeling the grapes is really... They're such beautiful things. I wouldn't like to do 20 tons of them, but... Has it put you off or has it given you a... No, it's given me renewed vigour. Great. Well, in that case, we'll be waiting for you next September. The vineyard is only the beginning of the story. Over in the cantina, or winery, the next chapter begins. While Dominic has been hard at work, I've been catching up with winemaker Keaton Crow. Keaton is a graduate of one of the world's great wine schools, the University of California at Davis. And as we're about to find out, he loves being here in Bulgari, working for such an innovative company. Here he is. Hi, I'm Dom. Keaton, nice to meet you. Keaton, good to meet you. Have you had a lot of fun? I have, I've been picking your grapes. Yeah, I heard you were picking our Cabernet Franc. Your Cabernet Franc, yeah, which are really ripe and ready to go. Yeah, we can actually go ahead and taste some Cabernet Franc from last year, if you want. If we want, of course we want. Cabernet Franc is one of the grapes in the classic Bordeaux blend that I've been telling Dominic about. It's one of the backbones of the wines of the Bulgari region. This is that Cabernet Franc. That have come to be known as Super Tuskers. So this has come from where? This has come from, well, it's not quite your production yet. But it's this year? No, this is from last year. This is last year. This is 2020. 2020, Cabernet Franc. Yep. Which wine is this? So this is actually for Grepekaya. That's your best one? Yeah, so we will have a Majority Cabernet Sauvignon in our Grepekaya, and then we have a Minority Part Cabernet Franc. But since you harvested Cabernet Franc this morning, I figured it would be... Okay. This is really nice now. I mean, I could sit and have dinner with this. Why leave it longer in a barrel? Well, so we do it for 18 months, generally, in our Grepekaya, and 12 months for our Grepecante, our base Rosso. But that extra time in barrel helps soften maybe a bigger wine, something with a little bit more structure, more tannin, as well as give it a little bit more of that complexity. It allows for that aroma and that flavour to develop in the mouth. And don't tell me you do experiments. I have too many experiments. But ultimately, all the quality is created in the vineyard. So all the experiments that we do here are how can we capture the quality in the winery that we spent a whole year waiting to harvest and, you know, that slow build-up to harvest time every year. How can we best capture that quality? Are we going to empty it? Yes, you do. You've got to be ready for the next one. So that's the Cabernet Franc. Now for the next wine in the blend, the one that gives it its fruit and body. This is Cabernet Sauvignon. It is Cabernet Sauvignon. And also been in barrel for... For the same amount of time. Yeah. So it's got another six months to go. Exactly. Now, is this a different sort of barrel? So we will use a stronger toast for the Cabernet Sauvignon. It's a little bit more intense in terms of aromatics and body. So we can... Always about medium, but we can play around with a more stronger toast. None of the vapor stuff. So this is like matching up boxes, isn't it? You know, sort of bigger, more muscly grape needs a bigger... Exactly. ...stronger barrel. Yeah, there's no one best solution for any type of wine. If you try to apply the same techniques that you use for Pinot Noir to Cabernet Sauvignon, you know, there's no universal answer to winemaking. You always have to treat every variety, every vineyard, every place accordingly. And through time, you get to understand what best matches with that. And roughly what blend of... So you'll put how much Cab Sav and how much Franc into your... Yes. So roughly it's going to be 50-55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20-25% Cabernet Franc, and then the rest will be Merlot. Oh. This is noticeably more tannic... Yes. ...than the Cabernet, which is not surprising. But is that also because of the barrel? That's the oak. Yeah. So you do get... You do definitely get tannin from the barrel, but also we find that the type of tannins that we get from our Cabernet Sauvignon, you can extract those wines a little bit more intensely, and that gives a really silky, nice, elegant tannin in terms of structure, whereas maybe with something more delicate like Cabernet Franc, you want to leave a little bit more... less extracted, a little bit lighter, a little bit easier to drink, and then that adds a nice blending component. I'm liking that one. It's really interesting tasting the different varieties, isn't it? Interestingly, of the two, with Cabernet Franc, I could drink that right now, sit in front of the TV, I don't know, watch you, and it'd be very nice. This needs more time. I mean, this is noticeably... It's lovely, but it needs time just to ease up a little bit. Yeah. Soften more gently. You can see where it's going, but it's not there yet. Yeah, exactly. So it needs time to let it tear down for sure. While Keaton heads off to get us a final sample... We're thinking about how old barrels are. It's in the thousands, sort of years old, wasn't it? Certainly well on to the hundreds, but Egyptians were using a sort of barrel, I think, weren't they? But enough of our amateur barrel-ology. Now what's this? So this is actually the first wine I ever made here in New Grappi in 2019 when I arrived. Yeah. So this is the experimental wine, my first ever experiment. So what's in it? You tell us. You're the expert. Cabernet Sauvignon. There is Cabernet Sauvignon, but it's actually a majority Cabernet Franc. Is it really? Hmm. It's sort of, yeah, it's greeny, green pepper. Is it? Yes, you're absolutely right. It's sort of capsicum green bell pepper. Bell pepper and capsaicin is actually a characteristic of the Cabernet Franc varietal. Right. You must be very proud of this. This is glorious. Yes. So I'm not sure what we're going to do with it yet. I hope that it ends up being its own little mini series, mini production. That wine really is interesting, but having softened us up with some wonderful samples, Keaton has some real work for us to do. So I could actually use some help if you guys want to help in the cantina for a second. Doing what? Rehydrating a barrel. Okay. This is new on me. I've never done this. Here we go. It sounds like it could get wet. Yeah. Do you have any rubber boots? Wellingtons? No. I've got thigh-high ones. Let's go. Where are we? Every year, Ygrepi buys new French oak barrels. At 800 euros a pop, they're quite the investment, but they are vital for bringing the quality and character to their wines. But they don't quite come ready to use. So you guys are just going to put the barrel on its side and go ahead and roll it. Clearly there's a module in barrel rolling at drama school. This isn't as easy as it looks. So why do you hydrate barrels? Because it's like a ship. If you don't hydrate it, it'll sink. Right. I do apologise for my acquaintance. I'm nearly there. You're all right. Do you want a hand? Ready. Winemaking is sometimes more of an art than a science, huh? Yes, absolutely. All right. Come on, what do we do? So you've got to knock this barrel over on its side. And then we're going to go ahead. You've just got mine levelled up. And then we're going to take the bung out. Take bung out. The bung. Take your bung out. Oh, it smells so good. Burnt oak. Oh, it's lovely. And then we're going to stick this on the bung. And then, Joe, if you want to give a hand, I'll hold your barrel. Go ahead. So if I... What am I doing? Just pour the water in. Try not to get yourself too wet. Tip the barrel back on its side. There we go. And then you just put the water on top. Like this. And that seals it, or it just keeps the wood? That rehydrates the wood. So if the wood isn't hydrated, then the wine will leak out. So how long do you leave it like that for? 24 hours, and then we flip it on its other side. So you've rehydrated your barrel. That's where your Cabernet Franc is going to go. I feel better than ever. The Cabernet Franc that he's picked is going to go in the barrel that you've hydrated. You are a winemaker. I am. I should get to keep the barrel, I think. Well, drink it, at least.