A UNIQUE HARVEST!

MAURO SIRRI’S HARVEST NUMBER 31

Dear Friends,

For the little experience I have acquired, vintages like 2014 can be considered unique, considering the seasonal course, the harvesting period, the great amount of work we had to manage in the vineyards and the strategies we had to adopt in the cellar.

A vintage of which we can say to our children and grandchildren, “I was there”.

Definitely a year where we learned something new, as I always say to my daughters: problems are the spice of life, first, because they stimulate our brain often not used in its full potential, second, because there is nothing more exciting and thrilling than finding solutions that give unexpected results.

I think that in these harvests, primarily emerge the vocated areas, and Bertinoro has been showing to have unique characteristics, with a terroir characterized by “spungone” tufa rock with very high percentage of limestone. Secondly emerge men who are able to interpret the best how to work in the vineyard during all growth-phases, timing treatments, choosing the right time to harvest, by acting quickly, selecting the best grapes.

In these kind of years, the temptation to cut wines with different productions is strong, but the short and easy way is not always the best and we have decided to produce quality wines, but coherent and in line with this 2014 vintage.

Obviously we were worried and we spent many sleepless nights, but at the end we can say that the quality obtained is certainly interesting and with a certain personality.

The white wines are characterized by a good acid balance, fine texture, delicate but persistent aromas and by a low alcohol content. The red wines have acquired softness after the malo-lactic fermentation, stabilizing the color in a beautiful light ruby red, transparent and bright, the texture of tannins is extremely fine and delicate.

In summary:

WEATHER CONDITIONS

After a mostly sunny April where the vegetative phase started smoothly, with the arrival of May we started to have unstable weather conditions which have reduced the hours of light available for photosynthesis. These conditions have persisted even in the months of June and July, creating delays in phenological stages and many problems in the management of the green and the infesting herbs that we tried to content without using any chemical herbicide, but working hard in the vineyard every day. The delay on the maturation at the end of August was about 15 days, not bad with grapes that were beginning to have some botritis attack. Defoliation and thinning operations were necessary until the last week before the harvest to maintain the subtle balance achieved between sugars and acidity and preserve the quality of the skins. A difficult harvest, but for those who have worked with method and dedication, there will be pleasant surprises.

Mauro Sirri