Consorzio del Vino
Brunello di Montalcino®

BRUNELLO: A FIVE STAR HARVEST

 

23/02/2013

The ceremony of the awarding of the stars to the vintage took place this morning

 

Last year’s particularly unforeseeable climate did not affect the quality of the grapes

picked in Montalcino, with a 14% drop in quantity.

 

Montalcino, 23rd February 2013 – With the traditional ceremony at the Teatro degli Astrusi, and a presentation by œnologist Vittorio Fiore, member of the Board of Appeals for the DOC and DOCG wines of Central Italy at the Ministry of Agricultural and Forestry Policies, and professor at the Faculty of Agrarian Studies at the University of Pisa, 5 stars were awarded to the 2012 vintage that will be put on the market only in 2017.

 

“The wines of the year 2012 – commented œnologist Fiore – have a remarkable structure, very high levels of polyphenols and an intensely marked colour. The deep-seated lands of Montalcino endowed with a good component of clay, allowed for the vegetation to be well managed and the necessary balance kept up in a very dry hot year. The quality of the 2012 wines will be of a very high level with ideal characteristics for a long aging required by Brunello”

 

From the punt of view of the harvest, the beginning of the vegetative phase developed with a slight delay during the second part of the month of April, probably due to the cold winter. The flowering and the fruit set stage also took place late during the first part of June. The veraison took place during a fairly long lapse of time, between the second half of July and the first ten days of August while the ripening happened slightly early. The grape picking started on the 17th of September and ended on the 10th of October and was carried out in ideal conditions.

 

Despite the very unstable weather conditions, with an extremely cold and snowy winter and a very hot dry summer to begin with and a rainy end of the season, the level of acidity of the grapes was good, well over the regulation limits, and the quality of the wines will be very high, with ideal characteristics for the long aging required for Brunello.

As for the quantity, the decrease compared to 2011 is around 14%, making this harvest the lowest in quantity in the last 10 years.

 

With regard to Moscadello, the grapes were picked at the right stage of dryness and with an excellent sugar content, an essential element for this sweet dessert wine. Because of the year, the Muscat grapes – notoriously delicate – were able to ripen well and without problems that often occur in rainy years.

 

 

 

 

For Sant’Antimo too the 2012 harvest was excellent, with concentrated wines and a good aging potential. For this DOC, the regulations provide the possibility of using both red and white grape vines. The white grapes were picked very early at the beginning of September, with a good maturity and balance. The early ripening red grapes were picked during the first ten days of September.