The complexities and opportunities of the 2017 grape harvest.

Although 2017 will undeniably be remembered as a particularly difficult year, due to the extreme weather conditions – from the spring frosts to the soaring summer temperatures – the mood in our company is optimistic.

The moderate fall in production volumes is matched by outstandingly high quality: the harvest has given us excellent, healthy grapes, suggesting that the 2018 wine will be notable for complex characteristics and a unique, original flavour.

This is already apparent to anyone going into our wine cellars at the moment: you will be enveloped in an intoxicatingly strong scent of must…

Of course the debate over the effects of climate change on wine production is wide open: according to the experts, the constant upward trend in temperatures may endanger the more sensitive varieties – merlot, grignolino, dolcetto – or be favourable to others such as glera, used to produce prosecco, or barbera, two varieties that love the heat.

With our Cortese di Gavi, we want to be positive, following the recent example of Slow Food founder Carlo Petrini.