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Piemonte
Anna Maria Abbona - Dogliani:
September 20th, 2011: “Today we finished the harvest of dolcetto grapes! It was about 10 days early. The growing season started early in April with an unusual heat. The weather carried on well in the spring and then in July we had a couple of weeks that were rather cool and wet, but there was not a lot of rain. In August, we had a lot of heat and the maturation advanced quickly.
We started picking Sept. 8 and now that we have finished picking the dolcetto grapes, we can say that we have an excellent year in the cellar. The yields were reduced by approximately 20-25% compared to a normal year but the quality is excellent: we have color, texture and body. And as always we have good acidity and aromas.
In a few days we will start with the Barbera and then finish with the Nebbiolo.”
Attached are some photos taken today, with the last dolcetto grapes ...”
Mario Andrion, Castello di Verduno - Verduno:
November 4, 2001: “The 2011 vintage will be remembered as one of the umpteenth hot and dry seasons. I’m now familiar with those kind of vintages, so, like we did in 2003 and 2007, we left almost all the leaves in front of the clusters to preserve from the sun burning and we did a soft thinning out to have a more balanced ripening, slowing down the concentration in sugar and preserving the acidity.
Even with those cares, the harvest was very early.
We started harvesting in late August, picking the Pelaverga for the sparkling. One week later we picked the pelaverga for the white and also the dolcetto.
Mid September we started with Barbera and Nebbiolo for the Langhe Nebbiolo and the regular Barbaresco. I stopped picking because we had, around the 20th of September, a sharp drop of temperature with a huge excursion of temperatures between day (20°C) and night (5°C) that allowed a great ripening of the Nebbiolo especially regarding the aroma. We were one of the last wineries picking Nebbiolo with the Massara vineyard on the 6th October.
All the grapes reached a perfect ripening, so I was able to vinify in the best condition.
All the alccolic and malo-lactic fermentations are done, so I’m quite relaxed right now. I will rack the Nebbiolo wines into the barrels next week.”
Sergio Germano, Ettore Germano - Serralunga:
September 12, 2011: Grapes for spumante (Pinot Noir and Chardonnay) picked in Cigliè and looking good, very good acidity. (These vineyards are in the south end of the Dogliani appellation, 35 minutes south of Serralunga.) Riesling will be checked for maturity on 9/13.
In Serralunga, Sergio reports 'Just finished picking the Barbera 'Madre,' looks very good, thick skins. Dolcetto 'Pradone' will be very good, great color. Nebbiolo is 1-2 weeks ahead of normal, but the nights are cool and the acidity seems good. Possibly comparable to '06. (A late 'green harvest' of Nebbiolo was done in late August, and these grapes will be used for a Rosé sparkling wine.)
Cristiano Garella, Tenute Sella - Lessona:
September 12, 2011: “Here we are ready for harvest...we'll start Wednesday with the Vespolina and then we'll pick the Erbaluce! My thoughts at the moment are that in general in Piedmont it is not a great vintage, too hot and dry. I saw, last week, some top vineyards in the Barolo area and around 50% of the Nebbiolo grapes are burned. In northern Piedmont it is a little bit better, but it is not likely to be a top quality vintage. Here, it was a particularly difficult year for Vespolina as the 2 hottest weeks in August stopped the maturation. The quality of the wine remains to be seen, but the grapes are not well.
For the Nebbiolo, in Lessona and Bramaterra, things are going well because we've had three days of rain and the maturation restarted. At the moment I think the quality will be good for all the wines but no one wine will be incredibly great. I hope to change my thoughts during the harvest! Lastly, I'm very happy about the Erbaluce because we didn't cut the leaves covering the grapes so the Erbaluce is not burned; this is rare for 2011.”
Alto Adige
Peter Pliger, Kuenhof Estate - Val d’Isarco:
September 13, 2011: Peter Pliger of Kuenhof reports that the vintage is at least ten days ahead of normal. The grapes are healthy, the days are warmer than he would like but the nights are cool, which is good. The Veltliner will be the first variety to be harvested, the Riesling the last, and he estimates that the Riesling won't be picked for a month.
Lazio
Ferdinando Carletti, Casale Marchese Estate - Frascati:
“The grapes are perfectly healthy, however we had to start harvesting ten days earlier with respect to 2010. Even though we are only at the beginning of the harvest, we have already noticed a reduction in production of about 10% with respect to normal and a higher sugar content compared to average. The climate, particularly dry and sunny with rather high temperatures, has caused a reduction in the vegetative activity to the advantage of an excellent maturation of the grapes. From a plant health point of view, no particular problems have been observed.
Even if it is still early to talk about organoleptic features or about the wines, we have all the prerequisites to consider 2011 an "excellent vintage".
Campania
Ciro Picariello - Avellino:
On September 12th Ciro was harvesting the grapes that will be base wine for spumante (picked at lower sugar and higher acidity). He told me that his fruit is about a week ahead of schedule, but the quality seems good at this point (most of the whites are harvested in October). August was very dry but his soils held up well, there being a fair amount of clay under the top volcanic layer.
Luigi di Meo, La Sibilla - Campi Flegrei:
September 13, 2011: Luigi di Meo tells me that the grapes look 'perfect'; the summer wasn't too hot, more like a normal vintage 20 years ago than the heat they've had recently. The harvest of Falanghina will start 9/19, the Piedirosso in early October. Their agronomist says the Piedirosso is the best that he's seen there.
September 22, 2011: Vincenzo di Meo writes “We are constantly monitoring the grapes and the vintage is looking good. The most important thing: the grapes are healthy. We began harvesting the Marsiliano grapes yesterday. The Falanghina has good acidity despite the summer heat, the health status of the grapes is optimal. The Falanghina grapes from the ‘Cruna del Lago’ vineyard are most promising! We will see in the bottle! For the piedirosso we have healthy beautiful full clusters, there was a natural selection of flowers due to pouring rains in spring at flowering. This allowed perfect ripening and with harvesting times approaching soon, it promises a great year!”
Basilicata
Cecilia Piccin, Grifalco Winery - Mount Vulture:
September 29th, 2011: “Theme of the Year in Vulture ... waiting for the harvest! The season was fairly regular until at least June, then we had a lot of rain and very cold weather in July, which was quite unusual. Things were progressing nevertheless on time, the veraison was completed just before the middle of August, but around the middle of August it became very hot, with lots of sunshine and daytime temperatures that reached 100 degrees fahrenheit. The plants suffered a little from the heat, but we had four storms in the last three weeks that have given us a sigh of relief. The harvest, which for us should begin in mid-October, will be early. We hope to have another ten days before it begins, and we hope above all that the temperatures decrease again, though the night time temperatures are already down around 59 degrees. If all goes as it should, we hope NOT to begin to harvest for another ten days, but we will watch the weather closely. The wine producer must be brave, and wait .... But it is not without fear!”
Sicilia
Ciro Biondi - Mount Etna:
September 13, 2011: “The Spring was a bit rainy, but the last rain was in the beginning of June. It was not a very hot Summer. At the moment the grapes look quite ripe in the color; the young vines are suffering for the lack of water. I think we will start with the white grapes around the 25th of September and in the first 10 days of October we will begin to pick the red. We began to harvest, on the 31th of August, the few Pinot Noir that we have; the quantity was less than last year. Today we racked the wine and pressed and put it into the cask.”
