Vintage 2007 had been rather bizarre, since from the beginning to the end of the season in which vines vegetate, what is normally considered a normal situation in viticulture, was different from what really happened in the vineyards.

In order to understand sprouting of the vines we have to consider how the winter was between 2006 and 2007. It was a "strange" winter, since temperatures were much higher than the average of that season, with rare exceptions of temperatures below zero.
This reduced the period in which plants rest, with a subsequent very early sprouting. Already at this stage one could perceive by intuition that harvest could be earlier than usual.
In March the quantity of rain was good and it allowed wines to sprout in spring with a good reserve of water in the soil. Furthermore the heavy rains of May and June allowed a vigorous development of the shoots and an excellent condition of the vines. Flowering happened with an extraordinary anticipation that in certain varieties was almost thirty days. This was the certainty of a very early harvest.
Then for an excellent quality of the grapes, it was necessary that the temperature had raised enough and the rain had to be just a little or even absent. July and August were two very hot months and in the areas where we have the vineyards the rain did not come. Grapes had started ripening very early and quickly.
Harvest started with such an anticipation that it was a record. Picking of the first variety, the Pinot Grigio, began the 9th of August, more then twenty days in advance our winery average of the last twenty years. We chose to pick grapes very early in order not to loose acidity and the aromatic features of the white grapes.      
The healthiness was perfect and the level of sugar of the fruit really high. At the end of August all the white varieties were already harvested.

Normally we have a short break of around a week between the white and the red grapes. However this year it could have been the perfect vintage to bring the red grapes to a very advanced ripening, with subsequent ideal results in terms of roundness of tannins, colour deepness and final structure of the wine.

Then we had a three weeks break and most of the red grapes had been harvested from the 22nd to the 24th of September, just before the heavy rains there were at the end of September and that would have vanished our efforts to obtain very ripe and healthy grapes.

Our final yield has been much lower the average of the last years. However we are glad to announce that we consider this is an excellent vintage for white wines and at the top for the red wines.

Five Star Vintage!