chantelbot
Johan BothaA wet spring and a hot, dry summer lowered grape quantities across the Italian peninsula and kept winegrowers working hard
Italian Wine Harvest 2012.
Harvest. For winemakers, no other word is loaded with so much potential and anticipation. After a long growing season of endless work in the vineyards, harvest means pencils down, time’s up. And no matter how hard you have labored all year, at the end of the day, nature usually has the last word.
In the fourth of five 2012 vintage reports, winemakers across the Italian boot are reporting a promising vintage after a year of hard work. A wet spring in many regions lowered yields by as much as 40 percent. A long, hot summer put vines under drought stress, which meant growers had to be careful to protect the fruit and let it hang long enough to ripen. As for final quality in the bottle—it’s too early to know. But here’s a sneak peek.
• The Northeast
• Piedmont
• Southern & Central Italy
• Tuscany
