VINTAGES

2023 GROWING YEAR

2023 was a complicated, difficult growing year, one that severely challenged all the vineyard management practices that we employ to ensure peak-ripe grapes. The overall hallmark of the year was a notable variability, starting off with a cold period and finally concluding with one of the hottest spells in recent years, and in between bringing heavy rainfall and a few ruinous hailstorms. This unusual weather left its sensory imprint on the wines, which turned out slightly different from those of the previous two vintages.

WEATHER CONDITIONS

As is increasingly becoming the norm over the last 20 years, the 2023 season started off with mild temperatures in the latter part of the winter, which brought an early budbreak. The relative lack of available water during this period caused a phase shift in the opening of the buds and a consequent bud irregularities. Towards the end of the first week in April, two successive late freezes dropped temperatures to below 0oC, and cold conditions lasted for some weeks, slowing down the stages of vine growth and slightly delaying flowering with respect to the historical average. Successive stages enjoyed adequate temperature regimes as well as satisfactory groundwater reserve levels. July delivered frequent rains, temperature drops, and heavy hailstorms, which struck wide areas locally. Beginning with the latter half of August and in particular early September, weather conditions stabilized, and warm, sunny days were the norm. These favourable conditions lasted through mid-October, encouraging ripening and particularly harvesting operations. The season’s dynamics presented a continuous challenge, as did problems that emerged during our viticultural operations. The early April freezes necessitated employment of our anti-frost wine machines. Good groundwater reserves and generous rains did spur vine growth, particularly in the initial months, but that increasingly exposed the leaves and clusters to fungal attacks, such as peronospora. That required increasing defensive treatments to ensure healthy plant tissue; various methods were employed, all allowed by sustainable viticulture certification. A number of hailstorms contributed their own complications to the season’s challenges, in particular on 24 July, when, over a 2-hour period, very severe storms hit, with large-sized hailstones. The heaviest-hit vineyard was Ciampagnis, where some 50% of the crop was damaged and 40% of its canopy lost. Despite the fine weather in the following months, ripeness was not able to reach the desired levels in Chardonnay, and although the grapes were fermented, there will be no cru wine for this vintage. As to the remainder of the vineyards, weather during July delayed the start of veraison and slowed ripening, therefore delaying the start of harvest.    

Harvesting activity reached full momentum in the second week of September, under providentially sunny, clear conditions. Pinot Grigio was the first variety in, and it perhaps suffered less than other grapes from the vagaries of the season. The Sauvignon Blanc vineyards followed, although they are generally the first to come in. The ripening process was noticeably slow in these vineyards, and levels of malic acid higher. All the varieties exhibited lesser concentrations of sugars, with none of the excesses of other years, acidities similar to preceding seasons, and lower pH, a sign of lower salification of organic acids with potassium.