Vine year 2012

The 2012 wine year was characterized by a very hot and dry summer. Once again it made us feel that nothing is possible without “help” from Mother Nature.

The year started with a water deficit from the previous year. In January and February it finally got cold and the desired precipitation came in the form of snow. In Chianti Classico the hills were covered with snow for up to 2 weeks and even in Maremma the white magic lasted for a few days.

The spring was very mild and quite rainy. But neither snow nor the extensive spring rain could completely replenish the water reserves. From June the days were exclusively beautiful and without any rain shower. This led to a slowdown in the ripening process of the grapes in the first half of August.

The fact that we currently have no young vineyards, that our soils are all quite deep and that we have an irrigation system for many vineyards in the Maremma has undoubtedly helped us a lot during this extreme summer. This enabled our vines to make perfect use of the long-awaited rain at the end of August.

The autumn weather in September and October was then ideal: nice warm sunny days and cool, fresh nights.

As usual, we harvested the white grape varieties and Merlot in the Maremma at the end of August. From September 10th it continued with the Merlot in Chianti Classico. On October 5th we had all our grapes in the cellar, the grapes were healthy and perfectly ripe. Due to the vintage, most of the varieties had a relatively thick grape skin, which explains the extremely high density of polyphenols in the musts, as well as the around 15% lower yield.

The conclusion: overall a great harvest that promises great wines.