After a fairly warm winter, budbreak occurred quite early; luckily, we did not experience any spring frost. Spring was cool and rainy, and this forced us to treat the vineyards several times in order to prevent the onset of downy mildew.
However, the rain did not disturb the flowering, and fruit set was quite abundant. The real summer arrived only in late June/early July, when temperatures rose and we had some prolonged dry periods.
However, temperatures never reached critical levels for the vines, which were also able to benefit from the abundant water reserves accumulated during the winter and spring. August and almost all of September were very sunny and breezy, but without ever reaching critical temperatures.
The vines were therefore in a state of very light water stress throughout the entire ripening period, which allowed them to reach particularly high quality peaks without altering the ripening process.
In September, the beginning of cool nights and the resulting significant temperature variation between day and night allowed the grapes to best develop their aromatic potential and for acidity to remain at levels that were not too low. The harvest, which took place without interruptions or disturbances due to rain, allowed us to pick grapes that were in perfect health and with an optimal level of ripeness.
Furthermore, the dry period in August and September also increased the ratio of skins to juice in the berries, thus allowing for particularly high levels of concentration in the musts. In short, the 2016 vintage has all the makings of one of the best in recent years.