Many years ago, in relation to the 2005 Bordeaux vintage, a wine-maker was asked how the vintage was and he stated: “It was a rocking chair year.” Meaning that the weather was so cooperative that he and the vineyard management team had almost nothing to do. The grapes reached nearly perfect levels of ripeness all on their own. The weather took care of everything. It rained just the right amount and at the right times. It was warm and sunny but not too warm all summer. The harvest weather was perfect allowing for multiple passes to pick each grape at it’s optimal moment.
And thus it is with the 2019 Brunello vintage, almost. A small amount of green harvesting (bunch thinning) was necessary but by and large the weather was perfect and the wines reflect that. One producer, Vincenzo Abbruzzese from Valdicava summed it up even better saying the 2019 vintage was: “a fairy-tale vintage with an American ending”.
Here’s a few of my favorites:
