The strength of tradition, the dedication of craftsmen, the drive for innovation, the love of wine: Tava amphorae express all the best of ‘handmade in Italy’ and put it at the service of wine production.
Originally, there was no wine without amphorae: in terracotta, wines were born, refined and transported on ships from one side of the sea to the other. As often happens, to look ahead we need only go back to the origins: today amphora wines are probably the most modern, for their organoleptic characteristics and for the vision they express. In fact, the amphora is able to allow constant micro-oxygenation but without yielding any scent and preserving the wine’s purest flavour: this also allows very long ageing and extreme vinification. So we open the doors to a unique reality; located in Trentino, the Tava company has been producing ceramic artefacts for three generations. Over the last few years, with the advice of oenologists and wine producers, it has created a range of amphorae for vinification and ageing. Starting from the traditional production of amphorae in Italy, Spain and Georgia, the company has developed an amphora that, while respecting tradition, succeeds in guaranteeing an ideal means of conducting oenological processes through new construction solutions. The use of clay as a material for the production and preservation of wine not only has ancient roots but also starts from certain characteristics of ceramics. The porosity of clay: the natural porosity of clay allows the contents of the amphora to be oxygenated in a manner similar to the exchange processes characteristic of wood without, however, contributing any organoleptic transfer. This oxygenation capacity can be varied according to the winemaker’s needs by acting on the firing temperatures of the amphora. The thermal inertia: the thermal capacity of the clay makes it possible to overcome certain problems typical of steel containers, in this case we can compare the amphora to cement containers at a thermal level. The closure system: a difficulty that has always been linked to amphora winemaking is that of a closure system that would guarantee the watertightness of the container. At the TAVA laboratory, a closure was developed that not only guaranteed the seal, by not using metal elements, but also allowed the amphora’s thermal characteristics to be maintained. The thickness of the materials: much attention has been paid to the research of materials and their thickness. Traditionally, amphorae were buried to accentuate the thermal characteristics. Through the analysis of various cleaning and sanitising methods, it was shown that the practice of burying for logistical reasons does not guarantee that sanitising processes can be carried out properly. The solution to this problem was to increase the thickness of the amphora to ensure its thermal seal without the need for burial. The guiding thread of the entire project is to adapt the amphora to the different types of grapes and different winemaking practices. This idea must necessarily pass through a close collaboration between the wineries and the amphora manufacturer, who through this comparison will be able to develop an optimal product more and more effectively.
WQ Wines, Vineyards and Quality
