After a short break to renovate the look of our blog, we are back to writing updates from the vineyards.
Over the past few days, we have had bad weather in Montalcino that brought rain and, in some areas further away from us, hail. Yesterday afternoon after a warm, sunny, day it rained. It didn’t rain much, around 0.8 inches (20 mm), but it was useful because the rain in this period creates a water reserve that will be very helpful in July and August. The vineyards are in good health. We are now in the phenological stage known as grano di pepe, which means “grain of pepper.” This refers to the period after the flowering, during the fruit set stage, when the grape has the same dimension as a grain of pepper. These are good signs that 2015 is going to be a good vintage.
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We are working in the vineyards both by hand and using machines: this morning we tried a machine that removes the old leaves close to the grape bunches and lets them breathe while removing the flowers’ residues and small and malformed grapes from the bunch, allowing the bunch to develop better and to have fewer phytosanitary problems.
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It is not as good as doing everything by hand, but it makes the work much faster and still gives good results.
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