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The factors that characterised this growing season were huge amounts of rain, low average temperatures, little sun, and a summer that we saw only for brief moments. These conditions created a host of problems, with the grapes struggling to achieve ripeness and various fungal attacks, affecting both clusters and leaves. As a consequence, the picking went much more slowly than usual, and the crop was much lighter, in particular because we had to perform a very painstaking quality-selection of the grapes on the vine, since we want to vinify only the finest-quality clusters, the ripest and healthiest. We will now need to dedicate much more attention to the new wines in order to ensure good-quality final versions. But we are convinced that they will bring us unexpected, and pleasant, surprises, wines that will be crisper, with good grip or even a tad rough in their youth, but which will have good evolution potential, although full maturity may take a bit longer than usual. These are years that stimulate the tenacity and skills of both grapegrower and winemaker, and help one to grow, even in challenging circumstances, to gain expertise that will be of great value in the years ahead, and to be more in touch with the deeper reasons that impel one to choose this profession. Mercato dei Vini dei Vignaioli Indipendenti (FIVI): I want to remind you of the important upcoming event in Piacenza Expo: the Market of Wines from Independent Winegrowers on 29-30 November www.fivi.it. This is an event very different from the usual run of wine shows: participants can talk personally with the producers (some 300, from all over Italy), taste their wines, and purchase bottles directly. It is attracting increasing numbers of wine-lovers. Photo reportage of the harvest: This year we asked a photographer friend, Claudia Filisina, to take some shots: here’s a previewof what she did. Cristina and Diego