COMPANY HARVEST NUMBER 53 – MAURO SIRRI’S HARVEST NUMBER 34

Dear Friends,

In 2017 the effects of climate change have intensified and have become evident also to the most skeptical people, with scarce rainfalls and high temperatures that severely tested vines, especially on the hills.
The oldest vines, the ones with deep roots, have clearly reacted in a better way, developing deeper roots towards the rock here called “Spungone Romagnolo” (translated as “big sponge of Romagna”, it is a porous tuffaceous rock of marine origin made from limestone with fossil shells deposits, common in our area). From this layer the vines have extracted microelements that are going to enrich wines’ personality.
The youngest vines, instead, were the most affected by this weather and negative effects are even more evident in the average yield, that dropped by 50%.
In my 34-year-experience in winemaking, it had never happened that we started to pick up grapes at the beginning of August, on the 8th of August to be precise. It means that harvest started 3 weeks earlier than the average date of the last 10 years.

And consider that the average of the last 10 years is already unusual, given that in the Seventies Sangiovese was harvested in October.
In this glooming framework, I can underline some positive aspects: in the most suitable areas for grape growing, vineyards have demonstrated to be able to tackle this extreme situation.
Experienced producers have developed strategies to preserve quality in the vineyards, in fact grapes were healthy and very limited plant protection was necessary. Analytic parameters were interesting: sugars, extract and acidity were excellent.
The harvests of last decade have been a real challenge, sometimes putting at risk the company economic stability. However, our winery has strengthened and learnt from experience, developing “antibodies” and skills that give us confidence in the future.
This long experience has lead us to start the organic conversion of all our vineyards in the year 2018.
New goals, new challenges.
Obviously, a more comprehensive judgment of vintage 2017 can be given only next spring, but I can anticipate that we will obtain top-quality wines. Unluckily, as said before, yield has been very low. In spite of that, Celli winery will strive to offer competitive pricing policies, balancing consumers’ expectations with the company’s economic stability.
Trust me, your confidence has never been misplaced in over half a century, we will not disappoint you this year with vintage 2017.

Mauro Sirri