Campo alla Sughera is Knauf’s winegrowing company based in the heart of Bolgheri, the homeland of great Italian wines. It is in this place that Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are able to express their great qualities. This ability to emerge from the “terroir” of Bolgheri is the basis of the company’s products: Arnione (Bolgheri DOC Rosso Superiore), fruit of an accurate selection of Cabernet, Merlot and Petit Verdot, refined for eighteen months in new French oak barrels and matured for a year in the bottle; Adèo (Bolgheri DOC Rosso), a “blend” of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, refined for twelve months in French oak barrels and matured in the bottle for approximately four months; and finally, the newest Campo alla Sughera addition (IGT Toscana Rosso), a careful selection of the best Petit Verdot and Merlot grapes. In Bolgheri, the white “cultivar” have also found an area that values them. Fruit of this area are: Achenio (Bolgheri DOC Bianco), made with Sauvignon Blanc, Vermentino and Chardonnay grapes, refined for six months in new barrels and matured for another six in the bottle, and Arioso (IGT Toscana Bianco) with Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier grapes.
THE VINEYARD:
The vineyard was conceived according to two cardinal principles: maximum grape quality and maximum mechanisation during growing.
Campo alla Sughera has thus created a highly specialised vineyard which covers an area of about 20 hectares. The plots making up the vineyard are all located inside the Bolgheri DOC area, bordered by the Fosso di Bolgheri waterway, which runs alongside the estate itself.
This is a terroir which is perfectly suited for the production of top quality wines, both red and white. The micro-climate benefits from sea breezes from the coast, which is just a few kilometres away.
The main goal of the company is to produce wines, mainly red but also some white, of the very best quality. To this end, the canons of modern Italian and international winemaking have been followed together with the regulations laid down for the DOC Bolgheri, which specifies the following varieties: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Vermentino, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay.
The vineyard was planted in a very mechanised and innovative manner for this area, with low yields (about 800 g per plant and about 6000 kg per hectare), very close spacing (1.30m by 0.85m, using the spurred cordon training system) and a high number of vines per hectare (about 9500). Grapes are harvested manually to the highest standards, with all imperfect bunches discarded, and placed in crates containing 18-20 kg each. The winemaking cellars were built mostly at a depth of 10 metres under the surrounding countryside, following the most advanced planning methods and harnessing the force of gravity to improve the quality of the wine produced: the wine is allowed to “fall” naturally, avoiding the use of mechanical pumping which can negatively affect the sensory qualities of the finished product.
After gentle destemming and pressing, the stainless steel maceration vats, each of which is independent and temperature controlled, are loaded from above without using pumps or feeders. The maceration is carried out for approximately 12-15 days by intensively passing must over the grape dregs and crushing them in a temperature-controlled atmosphere; after the devatting and a first decanting, the wine is immediately transferred into barriques, where it undergoes malolactic fermentation. The red wines from the different grape varieties used in the blend are aged separately, the Adèo for at least 12 months and the Arnione for a minimum of 18 months, in French oak barriques toasted to varying degrees. Before bottling, the final blending takes place and the wine then matures in the bottle for a minimum of 3 months for the Adèo and 12 months for the Arnione. The Achenio white wine also ages for six months on its own lees in oak casks. It is then blended and bottled in the March following the grape harvest, and ages in the bottle for at least six months.
The following are already available on the market: the Arnione, Bolgheri DOC Superiore based on a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot; the Adèo, Bolgheri DOC Rosso from Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot; the Achenio, Bolgheri DOC Bianco from Sauvignon, Vermentino and Chardonnay; and the Arioso, IGT Toscana Bianco based on a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier grapes.
