Posted on 11/26/2021
THE CLIMATE
This year, after a winter with very little rain, most of Sicily experienced a particularly warm spring and a very hot summer, with little temperature difference between day and night. In August, temperatures soared to 40 degrees and above, with scarce rainfall. This climate has favoured not only native Sicilian grape varieties, both red grapes such as Nero d’Avola and Nerello Mascalese and white grapes such as Grillo and Carricante that are ideally suited to this island, but also international grape varieties – if agronomically well managed – which have therefore yielded good results.
DUCA DI SALAPARUTA
Oenologist | Barbara Tamburini
Agronomist | Francesco Pizzo
The 2021 harvest was particularly influenced by the hot and droughty weather. Those who reacted appropriately to these weather conditions, by always watering the vines at the right time, and those who implemented effective agronomy practices to protect the grapes were able to achieve excellence. Instead, those who were unable to understand the situation, especially in the case of international grapes such as Merlot and Chardonnay, had a lower quality harvest. We, at our Duca di Salaparuta Estates, reacted well and were therefore able to achieve the right level of technological ripeness, as well as white and red wines with correct polyphenolic and aromatic ripeness. As a result of conscious vineyard management and a well-managed emergency irrigation system for the vines, with workers on hand at all times, native grape varieties such as Nero d’Avola and Frappato reached their full potential. This is all thanks to our skilled technicians who are able to understand the weather, the soil and grape varieties. Knowing one’s land and having the patience to wait and listen is what makes a potentially complex vintage an excellent vintage.
Barbara Tamburini comments:
‘As always, the 2021 harvest began in the first few days of August and ended in late October. The weather conditions, with a very hot summer, inevitably led to the necessary resources being implemented in order to be able to deal with such exceptional circumstances. The high summer temperatures and the very low diurnal temperature variation, which lasted several weeks, meant that irrigation was essential in a number of cases in order to boost the metabolism of the plants. However, despite these weather conditions affecting the vines, we managed to achieve highly satisfactory results in the wine cellar. Some of the grape varieties that reacted incredibly well were the native ones, such as Grillo, Inzolia, Nero d’Avola, Frappato, Carricante and Nerello Mascalese, of which the last two are grown on Mount Etna. In short, but without generalising, the wines made from white grapes are clean, fragrant, fresh and, at the same time, full bodied. Once again, the Nero d’Avola wine, which comes from various plots of land, made it possible for us to appreciate its great character in its many different facets. The Vermentino grapes produced a fresh and lively wine, as well as the Cabernet Franc grapes, which achieved phenolic ripeness and thus allowed us to obtain a fragrant wine with a great body.’
CORVO
Oenologist | Francesco Miceli, Salvatore Tomasello
Agronomist | Francesco Pizzo
When it comes to its climate and terroir, Sicily is a heterogeneous island. The vineyards do not all have the same sun exposure or altitude, which is why our Agronomist, along with the many Corvo grape suppliers, was faced with an extremely demanding task, since every situation had to be analysed together. Therefore, more so than in previous years, our relationship with the Farms supplying grapes in Sicily, a region with great agronomic variety and many different terroirs, has been instrumental in the success of this harvest, which has been rather complex due to the weather conditions. In particular, we had to carefully manage the early white grape varieties, which skipped some steps in the ripening process, thus affecting the sugar content. This meant that we had to select the terroirs to be harvested, favouring hilly areas, which are less affected by the temperatures.
FLORIO
Oenologist | Tommaso Maggio
Agronomist | Francesco Pizzo
The year 2021 has proven to be the year of native cultivars such as Grillo. For the Florio wines and for the Duca di Salaparuta & Corvo wines we managed to achieve excellent results in terms of the technological, polyphenolic and aromatic ripeness of these grape varieties. As for the fortified wines in particular, 2021 proved to be an exceptional vintage for Grillo grapes from the Trapani area, which are used to make Marsala Florio. In fact, thanks to the warm, sunny and dry weather, they developed a unique sugar content, ensuring 16-degree bases, with truly remarkable organoleptic properties. This unique base sets the stage for future products that perfectly reflect this vintage and the work being done today by Tommaso and the Winery.
