2009 - Vintage was another record breaking winter in Piedmont with impressive snowfalls, up to 2 meters total on the hills of Barbaresco with the first snow coming at the end of November and the last one melting away late in March. Bud break started at the end of March, as usual, and the entire month of April was cold and very wet.
A change of pattern finally came at the end of the month, May and June were warm and very dry, perfect conditions for a nice and smooth flowering and fruit set, although crop seemed relatively small, probably because of the cold spring weather.
Summer weather was quite steady with temperatures in the 90's °F (35°C) during the day and in the high 60's °F (25°C) at night and, besides just few days at the beginning of September, the heat stayed with us well into September. Relatively high temperatures at night caused a generally low acidity level in the grapes matched by high sugar levels already by mid September.
It seemed like Nebbiolo grapes were ready for harvest quite early and two days of rain on September 20th and 21st pushed the decision to start picking before new rain could occur. Harvest started on September 24th and it was over by October 7th under dry and hot conditions.
Another good vintage, picked in warm weather with quite high sugar levels, extremely healthy grapes and good aromatic evolution.