First news about 2014

A Barbera bud today,the 9th of April, about a month earlier than usual.

The mild and wet winter, together with higher than average spring temperatures, has generated the early budding of all the plants, including the vines.

Barbera is one of the varieties that’s furthest ahead, with development in both new and old vineyards being unusually similar. (Older vineyards normally start showing signs of activity slightly later.)

It is still too soon to make any kind of predictions but it looks like the harvest could be really early, even earlier than in 2011.

And this comes just a year after 2013, which was one of the latest harvests in the last 20 years.

This is the outlook on the Nizza hills, giving you an idea of the importance of the winegrower’s sensitivity and his ability to adapt to dramatically different climatic situations.

It will be a good fortnight before we’ll understand how the vines are going to present their fruit.

Vines don’t always follow the production of other fruit trees and plants which, this year, are absolutely loaded with blossom.