Tenuta di Trinoro

2011 was a vintage made of heat waves and drought. We decided to wait out the drought until each vineyard had reached its best ripeness. We screened the fruit, sprinkled leaves at night, turned the ground around the vines to keep them moving forward; the vineyards lost speed, then stopped; tracts of merlot grapes started shriveling and we went through the parcels cutting off the raisins several times in the continuing heat; we lost half of it before the rest made it to a late and sudden ripeness. We picked those good areas in various runs starting the 5th of October.

At the middle of the month, for one night, we had an extraordinary, long tempest that broke the spell of the weather, transferred us into fall, dropped temperatures, and started offering a state of fresher fruit to the cabernet franc grapes: they accepted, slipping out of near-death; when we picked them in the last ten days of October they came in great condition and exciting different modes of ripeness. Cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot followed, satisfied with the amount of sun they had accumulated during the season. Overall we did 36 separate pickings and vinifications, with total destemming, and a selection of single berries by density in sugary solution, to use the best grapes for the wine.

Vineyard age: 22 years

Vineyard density: 10,000 vines per Ha

Vineyard altitude: 400 – 600m a.s.l.

Yield per hectare: 30 Hl/Ha

Fertilization: None

Spraying: copper, clay, propoli, grapefruit seed extract

Harvest: picked starting October 5th

Vinification: 36 separate pickings and vinifications, total destemming, automatic selection of single berries by density in sugary solution, alcoholic fermentation in 40-Hl steel tanks for 15 days, 3 days on the lees before taking the wine off the skins. 2 pumpings-over and 3 sinking of skins daily

Malolactic Fermentation: 1/3 in contact with skins before racking and 2/3 in 2nd, 3rd and 4th passage French oak barriques

Aging: 8 months in 2nd, 3rd and 4th passage French oak barriques; 10 months in cement

Bottling: May 2012

Production: 70,000 bottles