Sant’Agata sul Santerno, early 2016 New York, February 2015: the big cold and abundant snowfall on the East Coast are the unmistakable sign of the cold ocean, a factor unleashing the phenomena called Ninha in central America and that cause cold and rain in Europe. 2015 started under the banner of heavy rainfall or better, one should perhaps say it “continued”, as since the summer of 2013 Italy has had to deal with 30 months of almost uninterrupted rain with consequences not only on farming and tourism, but also worsening landslide phenomena that have affected many vineyards as well. The growing season of the vineyards started in the name of a certain precocity and vegetative luxuriance: many leaves, many clusters, some apprehension for downy mildew but above all the anxiety of winemakers in reliving a cold and damp vintage such as 2014. Flowering occurred on time, with some aborted blooms due to moisture resulting in rather sparse bunches also due to the presence of very long stalks. The rains that regularly and thoroughly characterised 2015 until the last days of June suddenly gave way to great heat as a result of the longest African anticyclone that Italy has ever experienced, 40 days without rain but especially with temperatures often well over 34° and modest temperature variations. In the summer the mitigating effect of the anticyclones of the Azores failed (probably also inhibited by Ninha) Already at the end of July there is evidence of the strong analogy with the 2011 vintage and the hope to attain vegetation and production balance as the sum of two extremes: wet start to the season followed by heat and drought. The vine in most cases appeared in good condition at veraison: with a well distributed production, not excessive and well balanced by the leaves, low pressure from powdery mildew, downy mildew and moth. The harvest began in the heat and drought generating a seemingly easy situation: with beautiful and healthy grapes, with rapid accumulation of sugar but also marked by pitfalls such as pH raising, the loss of leaves and the progressively slowing evolution of flavours and tannins. We have a beautiful vintage in the cellar: outgoing, generous in fruit and colour but not always equally deep, fresh and probably long-lived. Also this vintage has awarded those who wisely knew how to interpret the season, not letting themselves be intimidated by the memory of the 2014 vintage and thus being able to wait for the ripening of the grapes especially late ones such as Sangiovese, building on experience and instinct.

Francesco Bordini