Dehydrating Malbec grapes in the vineyard at Pizzorno winery in Uruguay

Video Description

Carlos and Francisco Pizzorno explain the process behind dehydrating Malbec grapes in the vineyard at Pizzorno winery in Uruguay. While they normally do cluster thinning with other grape varieties such as Tannat, Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir, to reduce the number of clusters on the vine, Malbec grapes absorb too much water and therefore it is important to dehydrate the grapes. Interview by Amanda Barnes, author of The South America Wine Guide. To read more about Bodega Pizzorno in Uruguay visit: https://southamericawineguide.com/winery/winery-filters/wineries/uruguay/canelones/pizzorno-winery/ Want to learn more about Uruguay wine? Get The Uruguay Wine Guide now! https://southamericawineguide.com/product/south-america-wine-guide-first-printed-edition/ Or purchase the Uruguay Wine Guide ebook: https://southamericawineguide.com/product/the-uruguay-wine-guide-ebook-copy/ For more wine from South America, follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/southamericawineguide/ Transcript of the video: This is something really interesting that they are doing at Pizzorno, which I've never seen before. What are you doing with the Malbec grapes? We are dehydrating 50% of the Malbec bunches in the vineyard. We separate the Malbec branches from the plants because we normally get rain during the last days of harvest and so because the branch is not connected to the plant, the concentration is completely different from those Malbec grapes that are still connected to the plant.  The amount of water in one grape compared to the other is very different and therefore the concentration is higher. This is the way to use Malbec in Uruguay because Malbec works very well in dry weather.  To produce high-quality Malbec we do a green harvest and we dehydrate the grapes. How much do you lose with green harvest? We lose 50%. We aim to reduce the quantity and increase quality. And when you do this, how many bunches do you cut? We cut 50%. We have two hectares planted and we do the same process within these two hectares.  The color of the leaves shows which branches are still connected to the plant and which ones are not.  So you have a dehydrated portion and a 'living' portion. And why don't you dehydrate the grapes in all these two hectares? It is not necessary. With other grape varieties such as Tannat, Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir we do cluster thinning to reduce the number of clusters on the vine and we achieve very good quality. With Malbec grapes we can't do this because it absorbs too much water and it is important to dehydrate the grape. And why don't you cut all the branches from the vines, as opposed to just 50%? Because if I cut all the branches I won't have a harvest the following year. I need to leave 50% of the branches for the following harvest.