Inebriating scent.
Aroma is one element of wine’s identity and an expert can recognise a wine by its nose. In this vintage, the aroma was inebriating.
Winter was gentle, mild and calm. The temperature was above average going into spring and bud-burst was earlier than normal. March and April remained warmer than average and the buds developed quickly.
The necessary rain arrived in good time and in good quantity. May and June were wet and replenished the ground water, providing coolness for the coming heat. Summer arrived a little before its solstice, the temperature rising slowly, never going above 32˚ and remaining warm until the end of the season. There was some summer rain and the evening breeze kept the nights cool.
Flowering began on 4th June and veraison in the third week of July, finishing on 16th August in the Melo vineyard and 2nd September in the Anfiteatro. Harvest started in mid-September and finished on 2nd October in the Angfiteatro and on 10th October in Melo.
Wine is never properly dressed without its perfume; the 2018 wine wears an inebriating one.
As usual, we end with a piece of ancient Italian wisdom. This is from a poem by Giovanni Pascoli: “Fumavano le calde erbe da presso, nel tondo ch’ella inebriò del flutto” [The hot grasses smoked nearby, in the ring that she inebriated with the flood”].