WINE
MUSEUM
OUR COLLECTION OF
INSTRUMENTS
All the items on display have undergone restoration applying very precise methods just as in the restoration of artworks.
These objects stopped being used in the 1950s.
REDISCOVER HOW
IT WAS DONE
There are explanations not only of the detailed functioning of the various tools, but above all how they were inserted into the activities of the household, who were the main figures active in those jobs, to link that life more closely with the way we live now.
In an era in which agriculture seems to have lost its sense of direction, crushed between vast issues like climate change or the soil losing vitality, globalisation of the market, scientific research heading more in the direction of major industry than safeguarding the environment and human existence, a small business like Tessari hopes, with this initiative, to call our attention back to the earliest human activity: cultivating the land as a source of nourishment and not as a way to get rich.
COURTYARD
SBIANZAROLA IRRIGATION TOOL
An instrument used to water the vineyards on the slopes of the hillside.
VETRALE TANK
Also called a “Brenton”, this is the tank into which the bunches of grapes were gathered during the harvest.
It was normally left on the cart to carry the grapes from the field to the house.
Inside this the grapes would be crushed by foot.
ZERLA CARRIER
A small carrier for wine transport, used for filling the barrels by climbing up a strong ladder to pour the wine into the barrel, trying to centre the hole at the top (usually about 30/40 cm in diameter).
BRENTINA CONTAINER
This demijohn was used for transporting wine “a basto”, i.e. with a frame designed to be carried on the back of mules or horses.
CARRETTO CART
A small cart made to carry the “brenton” or “vetrale”.
This wooden container was filled with bunches of grapes during the harvest in the vineyard.
POLVERATRICE POWDER SPREADER
Used to spread minerals or fine powdered products on the crops to protect them from disease.
CELLAR
BOTTLE FILLER
Here we see one of the first models of bottle fillers capable of filling several bottles at once.
GASIFIER FOR STILL WINE
This tool from 1930 was used to make wine sparkling, which could be done only with low alcohol content wines (10.5/11 degrees)
SMALL CASK
This small cask with one tap was enough to provide the daily consumption of the farmer’s family, or it facilitated the inn-keeper in filling his customers’ glasses.
BASSACUNA WEIGHING SCALES
In the cellar the scales were used to weigh the bi-sulphate used in winemaking.
BURCIO CONICAL FILTER
This filter was in use from the middle of the 19th century, especially in the Verona area.
From the small hole at the top a hessian sack was inserted, then filled with the wine to be filtered.
DUTCH PRESSURE BAG FILTER
These filters were used and are still used today to clear the wine of impurities.
VACCUUM PUMP
In mechanical pumps the principle used is that of the vacuum that is created in the collection vessel.
WIRE BINDER MACHINE
Unusual binder used for corking bottles of fermented or gasified, therefore sparkling, wine.
CORKING TOOL
The corking tool had to exploit a balance of the combined strength of man and machine.
MONUMENTAL GRAPE PRESS
The two screws had the necessary fit to push down on the two blocks, which then pressed on the central beam; this, being lowered, crushed the grapes on the bottom of the press.
MABILLE PRESS WITH CAST IRON BASE
After harvesting, the grapes are transported to the house in the “brenton” of the cart, where they are put first through the crusher, then into the press.
FILTER FUNNEL FOR DECANTING
Filters were and still are used during the decanting process in winemaking to clear the must of impurities. This filter was in use from the middle of the 19th century, especially in the Verona area.
FILTER FUNNEL FOR DECANTING
Filters were and still are used during the decanting process in winemaking to clear the must of impurities. This filter was in use from the middle of the 19th century, especially in the Verona area.
100 PIECES
BARREL CELLAR
BARREL BUNG
The stopper used to close the barrel when the tap was opened to pour some wine.
“VIDAL” PUMP WITH VERTICAL PISTON
This pump, typical of the end of the 19th century, exploited the principal of the piston which had been under scrutiny since the beginning of the century for the development of the combustion engine.
BARREL
For the storage of large quantities of wine, this bears the date 1890, when it was made.
WINERACK PUPITRE
This is a vertical support where the bottles are placed for a certain time upside-down to form a deposit of impurity
5 SALE
KITCHEN
TABLE CORKING TOOL
HAND CORKING TOOL
STRAW-COVERED BOTTLE
EBULLIOMETER
Precision tool to find the alcohol percentage in alcoholic drinks (millilitres of alcohol in 100 ml of liquid), the parameter which determines the commercial value of the product.
100 YEARS OF HISTORY
GRANARY
PICAI SYSTEM
This is a system, locally called “a picai”, for drying grapes vertically for liqueur wine.
The “picai” consist of string ties onto which the bunches of selected grapes are attached to be dried in full exposure to the air.
ARELE SYSTEM
This system for drying grapes uses beds of reed mats on which the bunches of grapes are spread for drying horizontally exposed to the air.
“It is not enough to look, you have to look
with eyes that want to see
and that believe in what they see.”
