newsletter

The 2016 harvest is now over. So here we are, as usual, to see how things went this season, which, of course, went by in a flash… This 2016 growing year, in particular, just seemed to fly by, with vineyard operations that were unrelenting up to just before the harvest, but what we finally succeeded in bringing in to the cellar was a very good crop indeed, although at a certain point in the season things looked a bit bleak. The season started out quite warm and earlier than the norm, and it rained without much let up from mid-April until mid-June, which was unpleasant, to say the least. Then it rained again from mid-July to mid-August. Frankly, there were times when we feared that we would lose the greater part of our crop to disease, or to cold, during the critical stage of flowering. For those who, like us, farm organically, the measures that one can use in the vineyard are limited to better and more painstaking vineyard operations. That means constantly working the canopy, so that the clusters, even when just forming, will have excellent ventilation and exposure to sunlight, and anti-pest treatments must be applied timely, since allowed products and dosages are lower than conventional ones. I can say, with a bit of presumption, that we worked very skilfully, but we were also helped by the fact that the weather, at a certain point, turned in our favour, and we enjoyed almost two uninterrupted months of sun, from mid-August to the end of harvest, with warm days and cool nights, ideal conditions for slow, gradual ripening of the grapes. Now that the last few vats are finishing their fermentations, we can say, though with prudent caution, that we are pleasantly surprised by the quality of the wines, and that we are dealing with a good vintage, perhaps even better-balanced than the excellent 2015. We’re present at the Mercato dei Vini On 26 and 27 November, we will be participating in the Mercato dei Vignaioli Indipendenti (Market of Independent Winegrowers) in Piacenza, one of the most fascinating events of the entire year, above all for wine-lovers. PiacenzaExpo Public hours: Saturday, 12:30pm-7:30pm; Sunday, 11.00am-7.00pm Attendance: € 15.00, includes catalogue and tasting glass Discounted attendance: € 10.00 for members of AIS – FIS – FISAR – ONAV and SLOW FOOD Wine may be purchased directly at producers’ tasting stations. Cristina and Diego