SOIL STYLE

The soils on which the vineyards stand has varied and complex terrain features with a strong presence of limestone, feature areas rich in marl and pebbles as well as being partly clayey. The production facilities are located at an average altitude of between 80 and 400 metres above sea level, with a west/south-west exposure.

WEATHER TRENDS

The 1989 vintage was characterised by a fairly mild autumn in 1988 with temperatures that turned cold in the late winter with plenty of rain until late March. Spring began fairly early with mild temperatures and sunny days, with sporadic rainfall until mid-June. The rest of the summer was extremely dry, but the rainfall that had occurred in the winter and spring had provided the land with a water reserve. Rain showers occurred towards the end of September, delaying the harvest, which nevertheless ended in the first week of October with well ripened and healthy grapes.

HARVESTING

The grapes at harvest were in fact healthy, well ripened and with a resistant skin, although not particularly abundant in noble tannins.

FERMENTATION

Fermentation and extraction took place regularly: the cycle lasted 13 days. On an organochemical level, the must was interesting not only for its overall composition, naturally considering the vintage, but also for the perfect fermentative evolution both alcoholic and malolactic immediately after. In fact, there were no interruptions in the metabolic processes even in the 'fixing' fermentations.

AGEING

By mid-November, the wine was already in barrels and, taking various factors into account, the percentage of wood in this circumstance increased by around 25% compared to previous vintages. The number of decantings into wood was normal: three in the first year and two the following year. The wine was in barrels for a total of 20 months.