TuscanyFood&Wine 2007 is going to be a record year of grape harvest... 2007 sarà una vendemmia a record d’anticipo...
2007 eine Weinlese der Rekorde - aufgrund dem frühen Start
2007
could be one of the most precocious grape harvests of the past thirty years, even overtaking the primacy of the record year of 2003,
according to the Unione Italiana Vini and the Ismea. The quantity is slightly decreasing compared to 2006 (-5%) but the quality is expected to be very good. This is the prognosis from the beginning of July but the truth is that the following weeks, those just behind us, are fundamental for the final production; the vines are extremely sensitive to weather changes and it is during this period of late July and August that it is possible to estimate how much wine the grapes will produce. “The increase of the temperature with 3 or 4 degrees in the second part of March and April has made the vines budding about 15 days earlier than normal – says the people in charge at the Unione Italiana Vini and the Ismea. This situation has been intensified by the next phase of flowering and the harvest could now be anticipated with 20 days. The state of alarm after the lack of rain during the winter and most part of the spring was called off thanks to the rainy days of June re-establishing the grapevines water status. In June there was also a drop in temperature that slowed down the growth, restarting again with the hot weather of July. If it continues lake this the experts estimate the anticipation of the harvest to be 4 or 5 days earlier than the record year of 2003 that was also very hot. Unlike 2003 this year doesn’t present problems with drought and, however, during the last ten years the length of the vegetative period of the grapevines has been reduced in general; the anticipation of the harvest is becoming a new structural characteristic due to the elevation of the average temperature. Even though it’s too early to make precise estimations the quality of this year’s grape harvest is expected to be very good. So what about the situation in Tuscany? In general the Tuscan vineyards have had a good vegetal development in all the phases and the anticipation of the harvest will vary between 10 and 20 days according to the specific conditions in each area. The rain in May and June helped to avoid stress caused by the lack of water and the quantities of grapes are about the same as last year with a good quality. In the moment of writing this text it’s too early to verify the effect of the hot weather on the grapes, but the Sangiovese seems to be fine.
S
econdo Unione Italiana Vini e Ismea quella del 2007, potrebbe essere una delle più precoci vendemmie degli ultimi trent’anni, superando
anche la vendemmia 2003 che fino ad oggi deteneva il primato. Quantitativi in leggera flessione rispetto al 2006 (-5%), ma buone le aspettative sulla qualità. Questi dati - aggiornati alla prima decade di luglio - sono una prima proiezione perché le settimane successive, ovvero quelle appena trascorse, sono fondamentali per il risultato produttivo finale vista l’estrema sensibilità della vite alle variazioni meteorologiche e soprattutto perché si determineranno le rese dell’uva in vino. “I 3 o 4 gradi di innalzamento della temperatura nella seconda metà di marzo
12
e ad aprile - spiegano i responsabili di Unione Italiana Vini e Ismea - hanno fatto germogliare le viti mediamente 15 giorni prima rispetto ad
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