Sangiovese at Fattoria dei Barbi, August 28, 2017: Brown seeds, solid and crunchy, sweet berries with richly colored must. The phenolic ripeness seems to be well developed and so do the sugars.

But today is August 28. And looking back over two centuries of record-keeping, I have never seen a harvest quite like this.

I really don’t know what to say. My advice to everyone is to analyze even the usually overlooked parameters of the must because this year there are so many odd things about the vintage.

For example, I’ve heard that in many parts of Tuscany, the YAN or yeast assimilable nitrogen is very low, nearly at zero levels. And this will impede proper fermentation.

The story of the 2017 has yet to be written. The quantity of berries (as usual) is low. But they look good (as they often do), sweet, richly colored and ripe. But what wine will they produce?

Personally, I’m optimistic.

Stefano Cinelli Colombini
owner/winemaker
Fattoria dei Barbi