2011.

The winter was quiet cold and he gave us a day of snow before Christmas, something very rare along the Tuscany coast.

Generally the seasonal pattern was very regular, only at the beginning of April we had a peak of heath, but this took away the worry of frost.

At the other way around the summer wouldn’t really start, with quite low temperatures and only a little rain. In this way the grapevines had a slow and regular development without water stress.

Until the beginning of August we expected a late harvest as the last year (2010), indeed the verasion (when the berries change the colour) was very late. But in the second half of the month we had a sudden and significant change, with the arrival of the African heat, high temperatures and mugginess.

Fortunately it did not last long, about ten days, but it speeded up the maturation of the grapes and anticipating the beginning of the harvest respect of what we thought until this moment. It was like the summer arrived late but then the summer heat continued (although not too intense) in the whole month of September and (surprise) also in October.

The weather while the harvest was very propitious and this allowed us to work well and in peace (we started with the early varieties at 30th of August and we finished the 28th of September). Only near to the end of the harvest some grapevines suffered a bit of stress because of the lack of water, but generally the grapes where very healthy and without the preoccupation that some rain spoil the harvest.

But all this, how reflect it to the characteristics of the grapes this year? The result is excellent: we have a well mix of the best of the fresh vintages and of the best of the hot ones!

Indeed we have very intense colours, rich flavours, good textures, but with high values of acidity that guarantees fresh and equilibrated wines, as well as a excellent aging potential.