The main characteristics of the vintage can be summarised under the following 4 points :

•  Phenological stages within expected limits, initially showing earlier ripening than in 2004. The early ripening slowed down during the course of the ripening process, but overall the harvesting operations nevertheless started a few days earlier than they did last year.

•  The grape ripening process was seriously affected by the rains that fell during September-October, with rapid increases in maturation alternating with periods of stagnation, or even regression of the parameters in the days immediately following the rains. This notwithstanding, on average the harvested grapes had reached an optimum level of ripeness.

•  After a particularly productive vintage such as that of 2004, this year we have returned to values that are closer to the average.

•  On average, the health of the grapes appeared to be good. The application of proper cultivation techniques resulted in a noticeable improvement in the judgement of the health of the grapes.

Judgement of the grapes:

Dolcetto - The build-up of sugars in most cases turned out to be excellent and the acidity was ideal. From a health point of view as well, the grapes stood up very well to a hard year.

Chardonnay - Excellent build-up of sugars and excellent acidity for the Chardonnay; the health of the grapes was reasonable.

Brachetto and Moscato - The build-up of sugars was good, the acid balance was excellent for the Moscato and a little high for the Brachetto. The varietal fragrances were very intense.

Grignolino - Build-up of sugars was good to excellent, as was the acidity. The health of the grapes was reasonable.

Barbera - Excellent build-up of sugars. Total acidity a little too high, above all because of the poor breakdown of the malic acids.