THE BEAUTIFUL VINTAGE

COMPANY HARVEST NUMBER 52 – MAURO SIRRI’S HARVEST NUMBER 33

Dear Friends,

Such a beautiful harvest must be told soon, it’s like a beautiful dream; when you wake up you run the risk of having forgotten it, or at least to have a vague memory.
In recent years we have often heard people screaming with unbridled enthusiasm, announcing exceptional and matchless vintages. Those who know their vineyards and have seen them grow, those who are devoted to the language of vines and observe them like they would watch their children grow, do not shout, do not stir up when the summers are hot and dry, least of all when they are humid and rainy.
The seasonal course has to be analyzed with a healthy realism and seeking agronomic practices that can give balance to the plants.
Only a vine in balance and with the right load of adrenaline will give you a wine of great pleasantness, elegance and, why not, a bit intriguing.
The wines produced in 2016 will bring together all of these elements, with naturalness and without forcing, like the step of the sprinter who runs for the world record, reaching the finishing line without any breathlessness.
I think that a wine producer does not have many opportunities to see many vintages like this one,
champions are not often born.
If I had to search in my wine producing experience, counting 33 vintages, I would have to go a long way back, about 26 years ago, when we have been given the 1990 vintage and perhaps the 1985 one. But I’m not sure, my first travel notes in the wine world date back to 1987.
From the meteorological point of view, in my opinion, we returned to the summers we lived in our childhood in the 60ies/70ies, that means: hot summers, but not too much, regular summer rainfalls, and night temperatures going often below 18 degrees.
June was probably a critical month in which we had an excess of rainfalls, which caused quite a lot of fungal diseases to those vineyards which were not well balanced.
However, our agronomic management that provides total grassing without chemical herbicides and with reduced and only organic fertilization, has successfully overcome the above mentioned problems.
So we arrived to the harvest period around the third week of August with a relative optimism.
Normally those years which are good for white grapes are not good for the reds and vice versa.
Well yes, I believe that this year the climatic conditions have been very interesting for both.
Excellent phenolic maturity, well-balanced sugars by relatively low ph values, good acidities and finally, as a corollary of all, a perfect state of health.
We trust that the quality/price range that Celli Winery is able to offer is still unique.
I thank you for the trust that you will continue to reserve us.

Mauro Sirri