EVOLUTION OF A CRU

"We have produced Gavi DOCG Pisé, our cru, since 2010, only in the best vintages. The basis for the success of this wine, like other wines of La Raia, is biodynamic farming that ensures healthy plants and excellent fruit quality.

Gavi Pisé represents our highest effort, our constant research to bring out the value of the Cortese variety: we select only perfect grapes, for two years of steeping on native yeasts and – starting with this 2018 vintage – a passage in in 25HL Stockinger oak barrels to discover what this Cortese is capable of becoming. The results are surprising: limpid structure, even greater longevity, and an explosion of notes and aromas that suggest the blossom-scented air of La Raia.

With a light and unprecedented touch of vanilla. The 2018 vintage is a new evolution of our cru, recognized from the outset for its capacity to evolve, in the bottle and in the glass."

Piero Rossi Cairo

The start of a new voyage

Gavi Pisé takes its name from the load-bearing masonry of our winery, made with rammed earth indicated as pisé by Martin Rauch. This wall, with a length of 30 meters and a height of 5, is so particular that it has become the distinctive feature of La Raia. Like Gavi Pisé, and especially the Pisé 2018.

La Raia

La Raia is a unique ecosystem. A biodynamic farm which thanks to its 180 hectares of vineyards, fields, pastures and woods contains an extraordinary variety of animal and plant species. An authentic oasis of biodiversity that surrounds the vineyard of the Cascinetta, which yields the grapes for Gavi Pisé.

The vineyard of Gavi Pisé

Gavi Pisé comes from a single vineyard, that of the Cascinetta, where the plants are trained with the Guyot system, with an age range of 20 to 30 years. Let’s explore with the oenologist Clara Milani and Davide Ferrarese, our agronomist.

Stripping

The stripping of the vines utilized for Gavi Pisé takes place a couple of weeks before the harvest. This is a fundamental operation for the proper ripening of the grapes, bringing out their aroma. Clara Milani tells us all about it.

Bunch selection

The choice of the grape bunches for the production of Gavi Pisé happens in two phases. The first is on the vines, where the fruit on each plant is reduced by half, leaving the best bunches with the best direction of exposure. After the harvest, another selection is performed in the cellar.

Harvest

The most eagerly awaited day of the work at La Raia is here: the harvest!

Passage in oak barrels

The passage in Stockinger oak barrels is the new development for the 2018 vintage of Gavi Pisé. The fermentation and subsequent time spent in the wooden barrels, for the first time, bring an unusual note of flavor to this vintage, ready for you to discover.

Sur lies

At the end of the fermentation of the must in barrels, the lies are stirred, namely the fine sediments. This batonnage reinforces the body of the wine and prevents oxidation.

First barrel tastings

Barrel tastings are moments of truth. Piero Rossi Cairo, our oenologists Clara Milani and Piero Ballario and our wine tour manager Elena Passi explain the evolution of our Pisé during its passage into oak barrels.

 
 

Pisé La Raia 2019 Discover more about the wine