Solaia - Toscana IGT 2011

Solaia - Toscana IGT 2011

After a cold and snowy year’s end, 2011 began first with a rather dry climate and then with an extremely mild early spring. The warmth of the first days of April led to a bud burst ten days earlier than the normal seasonal average. May and June were months of favorable weather, with mild temperatures and little rainfall ,and a cool spell in early July brought plant growth and development back into line. After the first ten days of August, temperatures rose and continued at high levels until mid-September. Up until the last days of September the Sangiovese grapes, due to this heat, ripened slowly until climatic conditions changed during the last ten days of September: evening and nighttime temperatures fell and the swing from daytime warmth to evening and nighttime coolness helped complete the ripening process. Picking in fact began on September 27th and was completed during the first ten days of October. The Cabernet Franc had an optimal evolution in the vineyard – the grapes ripened regularly and were harvested from September 20th to September 26th. The picking of the Cabernet Sauvignon was concentrated in the first ten days of October, starting in the earliest-maturing vineyard parcels and terminating in the higherlying plots.