ORGANIC BRUNELLO 2021 BY DONATELLA CINELLI COLOMBINI
A YEAR THAT STARTED BADLY, WITH A LIGHT SPRING FROST, BUT ENDED WELL WITH AN EXTENDED RIPENING PERIOD THAT GIVES US A BRUNELLO FOR LONG AGEING .
Montalcino, Toscana, 2021 harvest Casato Prime Donne
Casato Prime Donne is usually the first to harvest Brunello grapes, but in 2021, it was among the last to harvest in Montalcino.
This is a very strange year, beginning with the disappointment of the frost that struck all of Europe’s vineyards. In our vineyards, it burned the tips of the first shoots and delayed the opening of those that were still covered when the cold wind arrived. This had two effects: a reduction in grape production and uneven ripening. Indeed, bud break marks the beginning of a vegetative cycle that lasts about six months. The 20-day gap between the first and last shoots resulted in uneven ripening. The result was a very labour-intensive harvest, requiring us to harvest each parcel separately and even go through the same vineyard multiple times, selecting bunch by bunch. This was a painstaking task, entirely done by hand by the pickers.
2021: THE LONG, CAREFUL, AND SPECTACULAR BRUNELLO HARVEST
Most of the harvest was therefore postponed to the end of September.
The bunches resembled those of Pinot Noir: small, open, and with miniature berries.
The heat and drought were also severe, with only two rains totalling 31 mm of rain from June to September, and peaks of over 40°C mid-August. However, paradoxically, the Sangiovese vines ripened in perfect health. The extraordinary resilience of Sangiovese stems from its millennia-old history in this area. Its DNA contains the effects of the Roman optimum, when temperatures were warmer than today, as well as the small glaciations of the Middle Ages and the 19th century.
The 2021 harvest was therefore poor in grapes but the 2021 Brunello will delight lovers of long-aging reds, as always happens when the ripening phase takes place in a period with cold nights, as happened this year