Wednesday 31 October 2012

A report on the 2012 vintage on the Tuscan Coast

Posted by Giles Burke-Gaffney, Buying Director

HARVEST REPORT 2012 ON THE TUSCAN COAST


Consultant oneologist and Duemani owner, Luca d'Attoma, gives us the low-down on the 2012 vintage on the Tuscan Coast:

“The harvest was characterized by inhomogeneity of maturity and this not be blamed only on the climate during August but also thanks to the irregular fruit set at the end of May, which came about as a result of sudden drops in temperature and strong humidity. This has resulted in different maturation of vines in the same vineyard.  To make high quality wines there had to be at least three stages of harvest.  We are missing from 20% to 30% in volume of wine, not so much thanks to the Summer heat but more for the drought in the Winter and Spring.  A heatwave in August was followed by an important lowering of the temperature at the beginning of September, nights were cool at about 15 ° - this stimulated and awakened the plants’ vitality and spurred on the ripening of the grapes.  On the coast we harvested Merlot within the first half of September and Cabernet  started from the third week, with great results. Sangiovese in the most important areas such as Morellino were harvested from the first to the third week of September and here we will also have interesting wines suitable for long ageing.
The general health of grapes was very good. In the last days of September we had rain and strong moisture so it has been necessary to make a strict selection but the wines will be of an excellent level."