The 2000 Grape Harvest

Definitely superior raw material

In the year 2000 Ghizzano had quite a rainy spring, with a mild early summer but high temperatures from early August through to the end of September.

The grapes therefore ripened quickly, and the merlot was harvested as early as the end of August. Thanks to an attentive pruning in January and green harvest in July, the production per plant was limited but gave excellent results in terms of polyphenols and sugar. Like every other year, grapes were harvested into small crates to prevent damage and then vinified in stainless steel tanks. With frequent but very brief pumping over, it was possible to gain good extraction of colour and tannins (after 15 days for Sangiovese, 16 days for Merlot and 18 for Cabernet Sauvignon), which enabled us to obtain highly concentrated, elegant, balanced and rounded wines. Musts were vinified separately by cultivar and clone, before undergoing malolactic fermentation in barriques, except sangiovese, which ended its fermentation in stainless steel.
Grape harvesting dates: merlot: August 24th and 28th. A very high sugar content and low acidity led us to harvest merlot grapes a few days earlier than in the past, obtaining excellent results. sangiovese: September 20th-28th. The grape harvest was good despite being carried out in different stages, to respect the different ripening times of the various clones. Quantity was less than previous years which allowed us to obtain decidedly superior grapes in terms of polyphenols and sugar content. Cabernet: September 29th-30th. Thanks to the low yield the grapes were perfectly healthy when harvested, with very high sugar maturity.