Nobilis

Winter begins mild and dry compared to the average and then records a sudden drop in temperatures in January.
The spring started dry, with little rain and rather hot, thus leading to an anticipation of the vegetative restart. In April and May, cool and rainy, they led to a delay in flowering and therefore fruit set, bringing the plants to a perfect vegetative balance to face the summer.
The summer was dry with some precipitation that accompanied the development of veraison, removing the danger of water stress in the plants.
The month of September, hot and dry, guaranteed a slow and long ripening; the plants in great productive equilibrium have managed to perfectly ripen their clusters which showed an excellent average quality.
The harvest began the second week of September and ends the first of October.
The Muffato harvest took place on November 4th.

2018 vintage showed a cold winter with plenty of pouring rains. Unusually tepid April allowed a proper vegetative growth in all steps helped by a few seasonal raifalls.

Grape achieved a proper maturation. 2018 Vintage gave an amazing balance in the vineyard, faithfully savored in 2018 wines. Harvest was started on September the 13th and completed on September the 30th.

Late harvest for the Muffato wine took place on November the 13th and gave an exquisite production.

Once again, 2017 Vintage proved to be very hot and dry, drought season, probably the most extreme so far. Warm and dry winter, only a few days in January were in the temperature average.

March already showed an unexpected and unusual heat which anticipated the bud break. April, still out of the average, brought a sudden cold with night frost danger in the vineyards, which thankfully did not affect us. Summer featured temperatures well above the average from the very beginning and the heat lasted till the end of August.

In these extreme terms, the impact on production would be large, but human work has not only an influence but makes a difference: we worked with practical solutions like emergency watering carried out with proper timing to mitigate the heat effect and avoiding our vines from being seriously water-stressed. Despite the extreme climate condition we picked a great quality grape in 2017 vintage and protected vines from insufficient water supply negative impact which would have shown its implications also in 2018 production.
Regular harvest was started on September the 1st, was completed at the beginning of October.

Grape for Nobilis was picked in the middle of October.

2016 set off with a mild-tempered winter, with plenty of rains which made a perfect reservoir for the grape during its following development. Great budding, flowering, flower setting.

Rains gave way to a warm, dry, without excesses summer. Daily and night temperatures widely ranged, supporting a proper and balanced ripening of the grape. Researching the phenolyc ripeness we decided to harvest later in the season compared to our standard average picking time, therefore starting on September the 18th and completing it by the end of the month.

Perfect conditions also for the muffato ‘Nobilis’ grape harvested in mid-November.

2015 Vintage has been pretty positive, we experienced a rainy winter with fluctuating temperatures, from mild to very cold. Vines reached a perfect budding, proper flowering and growth during springtime thanks to favorable temperatures.

Summer was torrid and fully dry till the middle of August when finally rain brought a break thus enabling the grape to complete its growing cycle, getting to perfect maturation in a fresher climate. Middle August rain represented also a proper water reservoir lasting for the following month of September in which we were able to start and unhurriedly complete the harvest.

Grape handpicking started with excellent climate conditions in September on the 12th and ended in the first days of October.

Harvest for Nobilis took place at the end of November.

2014 vintage has been unusual in the winter with rain and mild temperatures.
A very dry spring with mild temperatures allowed a normal vegetative development with regular flowering. Starting from the end of July including all August the climate has been unusual with low temperatures and frequent rain. This inappropriate climate has forced careful supervision of the vineyard with leaf stripping and grape thinning operations during all the month of August. Only thanks to this hard work we managed to achieve an excellent balance in the vineyard thus avoiding unexpected molds and taking the grapes in the cellar with the maximum quality.

From mid-September the weather changed with sunny and windy days that allowed us to carry out a calm and relaxed harvest. Unfortunately, due to these climatic events, we lost 25% of the production. Our harvest started on the 23rd of September and it finished on the 7th of October.
Our Nobilis wine has been harvest at the end of November.

2013 vintage has been different from the previous as we had a mild but rainy winter that continued during spring causing a delay in the budding and consequently a non-regular and limited flowering. Therefore, due to these reasons, we didn’t green-prune.

Summersets off with average temperatures till mid-July, immediately after we had 36 C° peaks that dominated the central part of the season, causing a remarkable delay in the maturation of the grapes. This harvest has been, so far, the latest of all as we started the 23rd of September and we completed in mid-October.

Our Nobilis wine has been harvest in mid-November.

2012 Vintage gave a start with a cold but not much rainy winter, followed by sunny springtime helping budding and flowering.

Summer was torrid, with extremely high temperatures in July and August and total lack of rain: we worked hard in the vineyard with targeted measures such as drip irrigation system through which we managed to obtain a proper growth and maturation of the grape.

At the end of August, the beginning of September some rain supported the maturation of the grape leading to a great harvest, which started on September the 11th and ended on September the 22nd.

…

2010 Vintage represented an extremely difficult year and, faithful to our production philosophy, entirely based on quality, we decided not to produce our Riserva wines (Papeo, Tarabuso, Marchesale, Aldone).

Winter in the standard, mild temperatures, seasonal rainfall. Very wet Springtime delayed budding and flowering. Summer was dry and very warm with temperatures above the average. September featured a fluctuation between Summer and Autumnal climate conditions, continuous rainfalls throughout the month. All this led to a hard and complicated harvest which was started on September the 15th and ended in October, on the 5th.

All the rains which, this far, had made this Vintage so difficult, gave a great production of Nobilis in the middle of November.

2009 winter was marked by rains which lasted till the end of Springtime, beginning of the summer, however, clusters flowering was great and in timing accordance when compared with the average of our territory. Vernal long-lasting rains have represented an essential help to cope with high summer temperatures and warm Scirocco winds.

Our harvest started a bit in advance, on August the 25th, ending on September the 14th.
Middle September rains boosted the conditions for a wide noble rot spreading on The Vermentino clusters left on the vines to overripe, thus getting dry and ready for picking in the middle of November.

2009 Vintage was a great one for Nobilis, both for its body and bouquet.

2008 Vintage had a wet and cold winter with rainfalls stretching in Springtime all along. Even though budding was excellent, fruit set was held up by fresh temperatures. Summer, very hot and dry from the very beginning till the end.

Noteworthy, the great range of temperatures between day and night, enhancing a proper maturation of our grape. Temperatures dropped in consequence of the wind Tramontana of half September, then sunshine and breezes ensured a great vintage. Qualitative production but not abundant harvest. Grape picking started on September the 3rd, ended one month later, on October the 3rd.

Nobilis, our late harvest Vermentino with noble rot, was not produced in this vintage, as steady, dry Tramontana winds, made too difficult weather conditions for the proper mold development.

A fluctuating vintage… an early vegetative development caused by the mild winter season without much rain followed by Springtime with normal average temperatures and rainfalls lasting till June.

Summer started with a very dry and hot July, ending in a fresh and wet August, thus balancing maturation and harvest timing. An amazing September, with mild temperatures, wind, and sunshine.
Harvest got started on September the 3rd and ended up on September the 24th.

In the middle of November and for the first time, we made Vermentino late harvest with noble rot to produce our Muffato: Nobilis.