The 2010 Grape Harvest

One of the most heterogeneous of recent years

The Grape harvest in Tuscany in 2010 was one of the most uneven in recent years, mostly due to capricious weather from July onwards which affected the ripening of the grapes. In Ghizzano, we had a rainy winter and spring followed by a cool summer and marked by wide ranges in day and night-time temperatures and rain, which delayed ripening. This made the harvest quite difficult for some varieties. We had to delay the harvest and then make a strict selection of the sangiovese because it was starting to have problems with Botrytis. Later it was sunny so the later ripening varieties such as the cabernet franc and sauvignon and the petit verdot were able to catch up in terms of sugar and continue to ripen…

The 2010 grape harvest showed a 25% decrease in production compared to the previous year due to the strict selection we were forced to perform on the grapes to remove damaged grapes. After the malolactic fermentations which were performed partly in wood and partly in cement, we found that it was a good year for the French varieties, with great freshness and fragrances although slightly less depth, and slightly weaker for the sangiovese, although it did express a great array of fragrances. In view of the year I did not feel able to make Veneroso, and over 2011 I had to check that the quality was sufficient to proceed with making Nambrot.