HARVESTS

The 2020 season has not started in the best way, and not only regarding COVID19.
Spring, which began early with a very warm March, ended with cold temperatures and freezing temperatures throughout the Chianti area. As a result, we had an early germination in the upper parts of our farm, while in the valley the vines suffered a considerable delay.
During the summer, the plants recovered the stresses of the beginning of the season, but ripening was not uniform.
For this reason, the harvest, which began at the beginning of September, continued until the first day of October.
The total farm production increased slightly, thanks also to the entry into production of some young vines; all had a good sugar content.

The harvest at Carus Vini has started on August 25^th, so more than 3 weeks in advance. It has been a difficult harvest due to the persistent drought.

The quantity has been highly reduced, both because of the frost in April that has cut down at least 30% of our production, and because of the summer, still the quality is good. 2017 is definitely one of those years that we won’t easily forget considering the adverse weather conditions that have affected all producers.

A very mild season with just one week of colder temperatures. For this reason, the plants woke up earlier than usual and buds have started to sprout in the first days of April. The spring continued fresh with few rains and nice sunny days.

Then the heat prevailed until the end of August, when more rains arrived to give the perfect relief to the plants.

Harvest of Sangiovese for our most important wines has begun on September 26^th and has extended until the first decade of October, so later than usual as, thanks to wide temperature variation, maturation has continued slowly and in the meantime we have harvested our international vine types.

After 2015 harvest, a year like this was well deserved: the grapes have arrived in the cellar very healthy, and despite the heat we have reached a good maturity and acidity.

May has been pretty fresh with average temperatures around 18.5 ° C, and only 9 rainy days. In June, the temperatures has risen to an average of 23.9 ° C and some storms have provided a good water supply. July and August were beautiful and torrid (26.8 ° C on average) with peaks of 40 ° and just a few rainy days. We began the harvest on September 15th with the Merlot followed by Sangiovese on September 26th.

The unstable weather conditions through 2014 has often left us puzzled.

Alternation between beautiful, bad and awful weather, has made this vintage one of the most complex. First samples of our grapes, collected in late August, were green and with high acidity. However, the climatic conditions of September and the first half of October, with hot summer days and cool nights, allowed vines to a gradual and complete ripening which allowed, by mid-October, to harvest grapes producing balanced wines , with good acidity and aromaticity. To optimize our product quality we have defoliated all our vineyards and we have harvested only the best grapes: in this way we managed to get a product at the height of our tradition.

Also 2013 has been a year with below than average wine production volume compensated by an excellent wine quality. May has been relatively cold (16,6° C or 61,2° Fahrenheit) with 20 rainy days. In June temperature finally picked up to an average of 21° C (69,8° Fahrenheit) and only 7 rainy days. July was nice and warm (25,5° C on average, 78° Fahrenheit) with a 38° C (100,4 ° Fahrenheit) peak followed by a similar August and few rains. We started to harvest the Merlot on the 25th and Sangiovese started 26th to be concluded, interrupted by few rains, on October 4th. Finally the Cabernet from the 9th to the 11th of October.

Il 2014 ha avuto un andamento climatico che ha spesso rimescolato le carte. Nella sua alternanza tra tempo bello e perturbato, è stata una delle vendemmie più “complesse”. I primi campioni di uve del territorio, raccolti a fine agosto, si presentavano ancora non del tutto invaiati e con un’elevata acidità. Tuttavia, le favorevoli condizioni climatiche del mese di Settembre e della prima metà di Ottobre, con giornate estive e notti fresche, ha consentito alla pianta una maturazione graduale e completa che ha permesso, a metà ottobre, di vendemmiare uve in grado di produrre vini equilibrati, con una buona acidità e aromaticità. Per ottimizzare la qualità del prodotto abbiamo defoliato tutte le nostre vigne e raccolto solo parzialmente il prodotto: in questo modo siamo riusciti a ottenere un prodotto all’altezza delle nostra tradizione.

2012 has been a year with very low wine production volume compensated by an excellent wine quality.
May started with a cool period (average temperatures at 17,2° C, 62,6° Fahrenheit) and rainy (12 days of rain) up to June 12th. Then it started a fairly dry and hot period without any rain until the end of August with temperature peaking 40°C (104° Fahrenheit). September was mild with frequent rains
Harvest started as usual for Syrah and Merlot but only after September started and Sangiovese ended at months end with the Cabernet Sauvignon.

This year has been particularly hot with sudden temperature changes
At spring end temperatures were well above historical averages with peaks beyond 30° C (86° Fahrenheit) and 38° C (100° Fahrenheit) during the first days in July with temperatures dropping to 24° C (75° Fahrenheit) due to heaven-sent rain. In August temperatures peaked to 40° C (104° Fahrenheit) with no rains. Finally in mid-September we had some summer storms.
Harvest started by end of August for Syrah and Merlot whilst we had to wait for early September for Sangiovese and end of the month for Cabernet Sauvignon. These particular climatic conditions gave to the wine higher than usual alcoholic degrees but nothing has been taken away from the wine pleasantness