L'autunno è alle porte - Autumn is upon us

This year it seemed as if it would never come and yet, almost overnight, summer is over and autumn is here. After months of full-time concern for the vines, they are now bare of grapes and our focus has shifted to the cellar and to the olive trees.Harvest finished on Saturday 3rd October and within days of the fruit being picked the leaves on the vines started to change from green to yellow. There was a week of chilly foggy mornings followed by days of glorious sunshine and startling Technicolor blue skies that felt like an unexpected gift and now, finally, the weather has turned.We have had heavy rains for the last few days (the first since July) and enough wind to knock off nearly all the walnuts from our trees. This morning we picked baskets of chestnuts, almonds, walnuts and tiny bright red apples that grow in one of the olive groves. We have even started the olive harvest, three weeks earlier than usual. The olives are pressed within five hours of picking and for this first pick the yield was 8 kg. of oil per 100 kg. of olives. The first bottle of unfiltered peppery emerald green oil is ready for bruschette, a seasonal treat that is as delicious as it is precious. Suddenly I am dying to light the first fire of the season in our big fireplace and dreaming of polenta, marinated zucca and porcini. As I write a pan of chestnuts is boiling away. The chestnuts are “castrate” – one end cut off with a knife and two knife strokes made to the flesh before boiling in water with a pinch of salt and a bunch of wild fennel. Served warm they cry out for a glass of wine.All food is now right for Brunello; the hunting season is in full swing so there is game galore and all the other autumn dishes that need to be accompanied by a complex red.The official verdict and star rating for harvest 2009 will be announced in February 2010.We’re guessing that 2009 will be considered a four star vintage. The growth season was split into two distinct phases. From spring right through to July it was uncharacteristically rainy and a lot of water accumulated in the soil. The summer, the second phase, was then exceedingly hot and dry and the water reserves turned out to be critical. The weather evened out from mid August onwards. Some areas of Montalcino suffered from hot winds in August that “cooked” some of the grapes on the vine and there was also some hail but all our vineyards were unaffected.Here at Il Palazzone, the must is fermenting as it should and Paolo Vagaggini and Marco are tremendously pleased with the various values it presents. It has great acidity and good depth and balance of polyphenols. The alcoholic component is high but not excessively so. Until we separate the skins from the fermenting wine we won’t be able to make a final pronouncement but at this stage we can say that we are extremely happy with the quality of our yield and the results of a year’s work in the vineyard. Our yield per hectare – the actual grapes picked and allowed to grow - was not high, but keeping down the grape production is a way of controlling quality. In a matter of months we will consign 2009 to wood, next to be mentioned in 2014.The vines are now in a period of rest – which is lucky since we all need to be available for the olive harvest which we do exclusively by hand. It can take over three weeks to complete since we pick tree by tree as the olives ripen. It’s time to get out the ladders, fingerless gloves and wicker waist-baskets.