linea

Storyteller

May 2015

posted on 13 May 2015
Here we go again: cut the weeds, sucker, select and thin the buds, train the shoots on the wires… The season hasn’t even started yet and we’re already behind with our work in the vineyards, and from here until harvest we’ll be running back and forth to keep the vineyards in good condition. The vineyards this year have been pushed by very good weather conditions, and as always, they seem to playing a game with us growers, growing so quickly and messily, almost as if every spring they were showing their impatience with behaving well and staying in their place in the vine-rows. In addition, this year we have to manage an important new groppello vineyard of about 2 hectares, and convert it to organic viticulture to boot, so this demands even more careful attention in every operation in the vineyard, which ends up being a real mountain of work, much more than in past seasons. Luckily, we can rely on a group of fellow workers that is modest in size but very capable and very dedicated, so I think that we will cope pretty well–apart from some “crises” that will surely appear! And now… to work, running, too!

In Nuremburg with K&U Hausmesse 2014 – Wein radikal anders

posted on 27 November 2014
Gorgeous, wonderful tasting organised by K&U, by Martin Kossler, Dunja Ulbricht and their team. They’re a modest-sized importer in Nuremburg, very special persons, all of them, and they simply exude that spirit, in their remarkably-warm hospitality and generosity, and in every perfect organizational detail of this event that runs for two days every year.

Cows, horses, and nothing but green. Account of a tasting in a de-consacrated church.

posted on 11 November 2014
And here I am back from Belgium. The only Italian producer among a group of French, I participated for the second time in three days of tastings organised by my small importer, Michel Wijnen in Dilbeek. Just a few tables, with 8 selected producers, all taking part personally. Next to the bottles were the wine-bar prices, as well as promotional prices in case an order was placed right then. The tasters each received a glass and list of the wines, and they had the opportunity of placing an order immediately as they exited–very efficient! Everyone was very interested and tasted every wine by every producer.

2014 harvest… totally difficult, but not impossible

posted on 15 October 2014
We have finally finished this year’s troubled harvest, and after our series of tastings we feel that we can now give a very preliminary judgment on this year’s wines. The factors that characterised this growing season were huge amounts of rain, low average temperatures, little sun, and a summer that we saw only for brief moments. These conditions created a host of problems, with the grapes struggling to achieve ripeness and various fungal attacks – despite our constant efforts in the vineyards – affecting both clusters and leaves.
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