Ornellaia, Bolgheri Superiore 2014

THE CLIMATE OF 2014 A warm and wet winter was followed by a mild and dry spring which allowed a normal vegetative growth with a punctual and regular flowering. The weather in July was perfect, August however was rainy and cold, creating very difficult conditions for ripening, and greatly increasing the risk of diseases. The meticulous work in the vineyard, with leaf stripping and treatments during the entire month of August enabled us to maintain the good health of our vines, allowing them to develop free of disease during September and October. These two months of perfect conditions, with mostly sunny and dry weather, gave us excellent conditions for ripening. During the harvest, it was crucial to carefully select the grape bunches, both in the vineyard - where in some plots we had done up to three harvest passages - and on the selection table, so to fill the tanks only with perfectly healthy and fully ripe grape. 2014 was one of the longest and most delayed harvest at Ornellaia, with the first Merlot harvested the 6th of September, and a large part of the historical vineyards - including some Merlot - harvested in October. The 2014 harvest, that ended on the 22nd of October, was the latest ever.