Somewhat austere in its youth, the wine softens becoming velvety and developing prolonged and appealing aromatic persistence. For our Zonin Chianti wine the stems are separated from the grapes, which are softly pressed in cylinders under pressure gently breaking their skins and releasing the juice. The juice is left to macerate on the skins for about a week in temperature-controlled stainless steel vilifiers at about 28-30°C. After the alcoholic fermentation is over, the wine undergoes malolactic fermentation, lowering total acidity and making the wine seem rounder and fuller in flavour.