HARVESTS

Harvest 2007
Early harvest? No thank you.

The 2006 fall season finished with a good October rainfall which gave the vines very good conditons for the winter hibernating season. Winter was warm characterized by scarce rainfall in fact it crated alarm for an eventual summer water shortage.
Spring and summer were warm and sultry and an early blackening of the grapes had led us to believe that there would have been an early harvest. The alcohol levels appeared immediately very high but the anticipation of the vegetative cycle and the ongoing of the season, it slowed down, so much so that to get balanced maturation levels it was necessary to wait for the traditional harvest period.
In terms of quantity there was a decrease of approximately 15%, In terms of quality we expect to have a powerful vintage but at the same time very soft.
The technical analysis evidence a strong alcohol and colour , a balanced acidity and a very interesting bouquet of aromas.

Harvest 2006
Long blooming: long harvest

Satarted slightly in advance CASA SOLA harvest 2006 it has lasted more than three weeks. After a substantially rainy winter, a fresh spring has in some case has slowed down the germinations of the buds. In june and July the high temperature caused a good increment of sugars and concentration and have favorited a good polifenolic maturation. A tendentially fresh August and a great september have enriched our greaps of optimal scents. Strong and beautiful grapes as confirmed by the analyses: elevated alcoholic gradation, good acidities and optimal and balanced polifenolic maturation; the grapes show all the potentialities and the property for an optimal wine. Beyond the particularly favorable climatic conditions the great results , are without doubt to attribute to the intense cures of the vineyard and to a strict selection of the grapes.

Harvest 2005
The phenological phase observed at the end of August was of a blackening of the grapes and therefore a beginning of maturation.
The end of august and beginning of September were characterized by a higher precipitation than is typical in this season and by relatively lower temperatures. This has determined a slight delay in the maturity process of the grapes. The day–night temperature excursions have on the other hand favored the evolution in the aromatic qualities of the wine.
The sanitary protection and the agronomical practices (pruning and stripping of the leaves) to favor the air and the sun exposure have proved to be determining for the contrast of the precipitation effects which were fairly consistent in the immediate pre-harvest period.
The sugar and acidity levels remained good which gives a confirmation of the technological maturity which was reached ; slightly inferior were instead the phenological levels.
The 2005 vintage for the Casa Sola wines will thus present a medium aging structure in which the aromatic and freshness characteristics will be emphasized.

Harvest 2004
The abundant precipitations of the winter months have restored the water reservoirs exausted in 2003 becouse of the high temperature and have allowed a normal resumption of the vegetative cycle.The frequent and regular precipitations of the summer months favoured an abounding production brought back to our restrictive values fram a determined green harvest.In the summer months the temperatures have mantained normal values with short peaks of 32°C during daylight hours. The pronounced termal excursions have exalted fruity scents yelded by the grapes that have produced optimal fresh fruit scents.
The vegetative cycle slightly in delay has appeared in the last periods regular and has allowed a slow and constant accumulation and ballance in the components of the grape cluster.The excellent conditions of the last weeks have contribuited to an excellent maturity ballance and a good maintenance of the healthy state of the grapes. Verifications in the cellar confirm a vintage year with wines of good structure, great elegance and rich scents.

Harvest 2003
The 2003 season was characterized by long hot and dry summer with very limited precipitation which were limited to the final phase of the grape maturation. Therefore we verified an inverse change with the 2002 harvest which was characterized by low temperatures and a long rainfall period. The final product has therefore yielded the opposite physical chemical and organolectic characteristics with respect to the precedent vintage.
The exceptional climatic conditions of the 2003 vintage therefore produced perfectly healthy and mature grapes with great enologycal potential determining a great anticipation in the phonological maturity and the technological times of harvest.
The harvest was fast and serene in all the vineyards with the help of a fall season which kept a flavour of summer.

Harvest 2002
After a series of particularly favourable harvests the 2002 vintage will be remembered as the coldest and dampest vintage in the latest years.
Summer was characterized with below-normal temperatures and persistent rainfall which determined some problems in the grape maturation, beside the small presence of mildew in particular on the Sangiovese grapes.
Never before has a rational conduct in the vineyard been more rewarding, with difficult and costly decisions. The extremely selective grape harvest gave us a lower quantity of grapes but on the whole of better quality than expected.

Harvest 2001
The 2001 harvest was certainly a harvest which met the highest qualità standards. The good climate conditions guaranteed a uniform maturity of the grapes.
Winter was characterized by a regular climate with a superior rainfall. The abundant water reserve in the soil and the above-normal temperatures favoured a growth of the shoots with approximately 10 days before normal as it happened also in the preceding harvest.
The blooming had excellent conditions and started at the end of May.
From the end of May and for all of June the rainfall was very rare. The month of August and the first days of September the weather was hot and stuffy with a total absence of rainfall.
The last 2 weeks of September there was precipitation and quick diminishing of temperature determining immediate temperature changes which are very important in the grape maturation process. October gave us good weather and high temperatures which allowed the grapes to come to an excellent level of maturation. The excellent sanitary conditions gave the grapes a good acidity level and an excellent sugar content. It also allowed the harvest to proceed in optimum conditions.

Harvest 2000
Following a warm winter we had a Spring season with modest but frequent precipitation and temperatures slightly above normal, creating optimal conditions for the vegetative cycle of the plants.
During the summer period the temperatures had highs and lows with a heat wave with record highs during the last two weeks of August which reminded the heat levels of the summer of 1998.
September was generally characterized by fine weather conditions with good changes of temperature between the day and night temperature excursions and with a good water reserve in the soil, ideal for a complete final maturation of the grapes.

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