Consorzio del Vino
Brunello di Montalcino®

A FOUR-STAR 2013 VINTAGE

 

22/02/2014

The ceremony for the awarding of the stars to the vintage took place this morning

 

For oenologist Paolo Vagaggini “2013 is an old style vintage. Over the past 7 years, Montalcino wines have registered an upward trend in qualitative development”

 

 

Montalcino, 22nd February 2014 – The 2013 season certainly was not an easy one for wine, but the four stars awarded today to the vintage, during the ceremony held at the Church of Saint Agostino, show just how committed Montalcino producers are to capitalising on the experience and competence gained over so many years of work, and to achieving satisfaction even in non-optimal conditions.

 

When the grape harvest was concluded, Consortium Chairman Fabrizio Bindocci described it as one in typical “twentieth-century style”, with gradual and late ripening. High quality wines are expected, with an exceptional aptitude for very long ageing and an exquisite elegance and finesse.

 

After a rather rainy spring and early summer, the months of September and October were good from a meteorological perspective, with a lot of sun and excellent ventilation. This favoured the proper maturation of the grapes, which have a good alcohol-acidity balance. In terms of quantity, we registered a 10% increase compared with 2012.

 

According to Paolo Vagaggini, a nationally acclaimed oenologist and one of the world’s leading Sangiovese experts, who participated in the ceremony for the awarding of the stars to the vintage, “2013 is an old style vintage, with the characteristic maturation times of the temperate Mediterranean climate, where Sangiovese best expresses itself. The grapes reached maturity later than the past years, thus privileging the perfumes, the elegance of the tannins and the typical acidity of the harvests of the Eighties. A comparative analysis of the last seven years, from 2007 to 2013, shows that, despite the obvious differences between the three great five-star vintages (2007, 2010 and 2012) and the less favourable vintages, there was nonetheless an upward trend in qualitative development”. Vagaggini attributes the constant qualitative growth of Brunello wine to the favourable climatic factors, and to the improvement in the methods adopted by producers, which are never invasive in terms of vine-growing, wine-making and oenology. “The monitoring performed by the Consortium through weekly phenolic ripeness tests in the final stage of maturation – adds the oenologist – provides a service that is unique in its kind, and producers rely on it to obtain technical indications on the time of harvest and the subsequent vinification stages.

 

The oenologist concluded with his wish for all producers: “to solidly maintain the very high qualitative level achieved by Brunello di Montalcino – affirmed Vagaggini – which has made it become one of the most famous and celebrated wines in the word, I think it is essential for producers to pursue their commitment to promote its image with utmost cohesion, and confirm the success of this made in Italy treasure, matchless in terms of territory and recognisability, and of a grape variety as extraordinary as Sangiovese”.