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| Lionel inspecting the vineyard before the harvest |
Having faced a very special année, we can be quite confident before the fermentations.
The grapes were healthy when we picked them, generous, plump, they had well tolerated the drought. The only problem they had was the very unusual African heat of the year, which could change the regular parameters.
The alcohol content was very high but we managed to stay within 15°, mixing different parcels with various age and exposure of the vines.
Concerning the Sangiovese, the old vines, with their stony soil, were pretty much sensitive to the heat but they came out with a good tannic structure, alors que tannicity is not the thing of 2017 vintage. The new vines, for their part, were planted on an alfalfa-treated land, which fostered a deep rooting and brought consistent nitrogen. The fact of having some cooler vines despite of the canicule played an essential role: we made a choix de récolte in order to redress the balance by blending different lots, which allows us to have a natural fermentation.
Another decisive choice we made was a very soft cluster thinning, because we thought the sun itself would have made this kind of sampling. We didn't take much grapes off in Spring, so there wasn't a huge drop in terms of quantity.
We try to be respectful of our standards, without losing the peculiar characteristics of our wines, even in tough vintages like this.
