This week we have been transferring the 2012 Brunello from the wooden fermentation tanks into its final resting place, gorgeous 3700 litre oak barrels, lined up in the quiet of the ageing room at the very back of the cellar. This room is 10 metres underground and there is a lovely quiet feel to it. Entrance is through an upcycled 18th century convent door with great rattling iron bolts and two enormous keys. All of our wines spend over 40 months aging so the 2012 will not be emerging until the end of 2016, with the possibility of coming on the market in 2017. Before we moved it, we separated the wine from the skins and pressed using a manual wooden press. This year contact was 22 days at a stable temperature. The skins were great; compact and free of laceration and the extraction during maceration was excellent. The colour is beautiful. We have just requested permission to use the marcs on the property and expect to begin spreading next week.

A defining characteristic of 2012 is the low yields both in terms of what we harvested, but also in the transformation of grapes to wine. Many of the grapes themselves, particularly from the Castelnuovo dell’Abate vineyards, were smaller than usual because of the extreme heat of the summer and as a result yielded less actual juice. Our cellarman Jacopo, is happy with his first harvest in the new cellar. Although the 2012 is only at the beginning of its journey, it is already showing all the signs of developing into a complex and structured wine.