2020 vintage has arrived in cellar

The weather pattern in Chianti for 2020 was characterized by a rather mild and dry winter. The winter was followed by a very cold beginning of April characterized by a frost on April 1st which reduced the quantity of productive buds on the vines. During May and the first fortnight of June there were many showers and some hailstorms especially in the area of ​​Greve in Chianti and Gaiole in Chianti. The vines for the first part of the season started a bit slow also due to the temperatures below the average for the period. The fruit set was not too bad and the plants produced an average quantity of grapes. The weather in June and July was rather hot and dry but the vines continued their development steadily until the end of August. Fortunately, a good amount of rain arrived at the beginning of September, which allowed the plants to face a very strong heat wave that brought the grape harvesting time forward by a good week. Merlot was the first to be harvested due to its early maturation while Sangiovese, depending on the nature of the soil, position and exposure of the vineyard, followed the Merlot harvest for a few days or in some cases for a few weeks. Fortunately, the night temperatures in September were not too high and the vines were able to benefit from the good temperature range between day and night. The Merlot harvest in my estate was the third earliest since I have been here and it started on September 3rd, only in 2011 and in the torrid 2003 we began to harvest the grapes before this date,  the Sangiovese from the young vineyards  was also harvested a little earlier than usual, while all the best selections arrived in the cellar a few days before the rain at the end of September, when they had reached full ripeness. Musts, in general, are characterized by a sugar content that is not too high and still maintain a nice acidity probably due to the cool climate during spring and early summer. Overall this is a balanced vintage that will produce pleasant and not too alcoholic wines.