It has been a crazy fall/harvest season here at the winery! Apart from a fantastic vintage I've been everywhere from New Orleans to Vienna... Merano to Monza... and it ain't over yet! I'm in Serbia this weekend and Belgium the next!
Travel aside, I came back after an extended tour of the US to have a talk with Emilio about his overall impression of the harvest. He basically said he had never seen a vintage like 2011... The dry, warm August started to dry the fruit on the vine. The 2011 vintage was feared to be a very early one, with picking anticipated for the middle of August, but the lack of water stressed the vines and slowed the ripening process, actually extending the season a little longer. A short burst of rain at the end of August re-activated the vines. Apart from another quick thunderstorm in the middle of September, the season was very dry and warm during the day and cool at night. The lack of humidity ensured super-clean and healthy fruit. The result? Very mature ripeness levels with great acidity and beautiful aromatics.
It's basically EVERYTHING you could hope for in a vintage! What better than fully mature, healthy grapes with acidity and perfume... Quantity! There was about 20% less production overall, so I guess you really CAN'T have everything.
In Maremma where I Perazzi Morellino and Aragone are made at La Mozza, Gabriele Gadenz reported that the vintage was extremely hot and dry (and continues to be very dry to this day) allowing for a very ripe vintage. Gabriele was happy with the high ripeness levels and beautiful color of the 2011 reds from Maremma, but the lack of acidity might make them a little less age-worthy. Gabriele says he wasn't worried about this because when folks taste the 2011 La Mozza wines, they won't want to wait for aging! They'll be awesome upon release!
All in all good news from our wineries for 2011.
