2013
The 2013 vintage was a tardy one: the harvesting of the grapes began, on average, 15 days later compared to the past 10 years and it finished towards the beginning of November with the harvesting of the last bunches of Nebbiolo.
The beginning of the vegetative cycle, in particular, was conditioned by a slow arrival of spring and by the relatively low temperatures of March and April. The time between April and the whole month of May saw abundant precipitations (an average of 465,2 mm of rain – 563 mm in Dogliani – throughout a rainy period that lasted a total of 18 days) that created many difficulties for vine-growers who, from the start, had to deal with fungal attacks. Nevertheless, those who were able to react quickly enough with the correct agronomic interventions were able to limit the damages to the vines successfully.
The beginning of the growing season foreshadowed the many difficulties of the vintage, during each vine-grower’s experience and expertise were put to the test just to be able keep their grapes healthy until the harvest, albeit with uncertain results. In June, the weather conditions became progressively better and stabilized in July, a change that proved quite beneficial for the physiology of the plant. The plants blossomed at a regular pace for the second ten days of June after which they went through a successful setting.
To sum up, we can state that, despite a positive summer and generally good weather between the veraison and the ripening, the plants were not able to make up for the delay in their vegetative development that they suffered during the previous months. A last general note needs to be made regarding the productions: the good setting of the fruit combined with the availability of water, promoted the development of the bunches, which became larger, heavier and more compact, on average, compared to the averages of the previous years. Overall, it was a good season, marked by a double pattern: after a difficult first phase, we saw a second during which the vines were able to recover thanks to the calm weather of September and October, allowing producers to postpone the harvest and obtain satisfying results. It was a hard vintage to manage in the vineyards, also considering the production load, but where the thinning-out process and the stripping of the leaves were carried out in a timely, adequate fashion the resulting wines will be long-lasting and well-structured, making 2013 an excellent vintage.
