FINALLY ANOTHER DIFFICULT VINTAGE!

MAURO SIRRI’S HARVEST NUMBER 28

Dear Friends,

We are getting used to difficult situations that arise on all fronts: Political, Financial, Economic and clearly, the Weather. Besides the Dinosaurs became extinct because they have not adapted to rapid climate change. Thus it becomes imperative to adapt, adapt to changing circumstances with equanimity. A good vineyard does never betray you because it adapts to both, drought and rainy seasons, giving always the best. The characteristics of the wines will be different, but this is the beauty of our work. Experience of emotions and solve problems that every vintage store for you to test your sensitivity, your rigor in applying the most stringent protocols and the ability to interpret the nature that betrays us only if we betray her.

WEATHER REPORT

The year 2011 was characterized by relatively low rainfall if we exclude the heavy snow of March, about 60 cm of snow in one night, and an extremely dry and hot from July to October, with steady wind south-west. The daytime temperatures were over 35 °C, the night temperature rarely went below 18°. Conditions that surely aroused great concerns about the possibility of completing the ripening of the fruit, without a suffering of the vineyard. Therefore, starting from the beginning of August we started to make heavy thinning. These agricultural operations have allowed us to obtain good quality greatly anticipating the period of harvest of about 10 days.

HARVEST

To overcome the problem of the high temperatures we have harvested very early in the morning stopping at about 10 a.m. and then starting again about five o’clock in the afternoon. The grapes had no weight and no juice, no doubt with a high concentration of sugars and strangely also a good concentration of acids. As we finished to collect the Chardonnay we started immediately with the Albana and already on 30 of August we have introduced the first Sangiovese grapes in the cellar. The phenolic ripening of the grapes was excellent but the sugars pushed strong and there was not much alternative to the early harvest. I must say that in the cellar we were very worried, because such anomalous a harvest we had never done. In late September we had finished collecting, well in advance of 15 days on the previous year, charging an average loss of 23% of production. Fortunately, the concerns we had during the harvest are dissipating and after the first racking, a good quality is emerging. Undoubtely it is a difficult year for us, we have great increasing costs that anyway we do not feel to report on our customers.

Best regards

Mauro Sirri