The harvest gets off to a positive start with high quality grapes at all Group sites on the anniversary of the very first Boscaini family harvest in Vaio dei Masi.
Ten days earlier than last year, the 2022 harvest has started with the white grape varieties, whilst in Valpolicella, the typical grapes Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara will wait until mid-September to ensure perfect phenolic ripeness, with everything pointing to an excellent vintage in all areas where the Group goes about its vine-growing and wine-making business.
The start of this year’s harvest is particularly significant, as it marks an important anniversary: the 250th harvest of the Boscaini family in the valuable “Vaio dei Masi” vineyards, in the very heart of Valpolicella Classica. It was then, back in 1772, that a story of great passion for wine began, written by seven generations who have taken over from each other as the years passed in looking after the territory and the entrepreneurial vision.
According to the Masi Technical Group's forecasts, everything suggests a high quality harvest: the grapes are perfectly healthy and in excellent condition for harvest. Despite the hot, dry summer, which in some areas caused thermal stress, the correct agricultural practice was key to keeping quality levels high. The August rain then successfully recovered a great many water stress situations seen in Veneto, Friuli and Trentino and in particular in Valpolicella, thanks to the rainfall in the last few days. The grapes therefore look excellent in all the Group’s sites. Quantities are instead more variable, tending to fall slightly below past averages.
Sandro Boscaini comments: “The quality of the harvest is particularly exciting for two reasons. The first is for having escaped danger: the worries and apprehension of the pre-harvest period have come to an end thanks to the rainfall enjoyed in these last few weeks, in a year that turned out to be unexpectedly high quality yet with satisfactory quantities. And then because we see it as a gift that was unexpected right to the last minute, precisely in the year in which we celebrate the 250th harvest by my family in Vaio dei Masi, the original vineyard of our history of vine-growers and from when the Masi brand and the Masi Agricola Group stem”.
If we take a more detailed look at the individual sites, in the Masi vineyards in Valpolicella Classica and Lazise del Garda, the grapes are ripening regularly, also thanks to the August rainfall that has allowed the vines to recover perfectly from the minor water stress suffered previously; for the typical varieties of Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara, the harvest will start mid-September, when perfect phenolic ripeness is achieved. The bunches are loosely-packed, even and perfect for appassimento.
In the area of the Soave, the spread of flavescence dorée - a disease that causes the plant's death -, coupled with the water stress, the production yield is lower. However, the grapes show excellent health and organoleptic condition. Here, the harvest is expected to start mid-September.
In the Canevel vines in Valdobbiadene, the harvest of the Chardonnay grapes began during the last ten days of August, while for the Glera variety, it will start over the next few days. The grapes are in excellent health and are ripening perfectly, with good increases in the sugar content.
In Trentino, in the Counts Bossi Fedrigotti estates in Rovereto, the harvest began the week of the August bank holiday, with the Pinot Nero and Chardonnay grapes used for the Conte Federico Trento DOC Riserva Brut, followed by that of the Chardonnay grapes used to produce Vign’Asmara and Pinot Grigio. The red grape harvest will start over the next few days. The local soil and climate conditions also mean that the grapes have a good level of acidity and are in excellent health.
In Friuli, in the Masi vineyards of Castion di Strada, the harvest began on 18th August with the Pinot Grigio grapes and continued with the Chardonnay and Sauvignon grapes and will continue with the Verduzzo and the red varieties. Compared with the other estates, these vineyards have benefited from greater rainfall, guaranteeing an excellent completion of the phenological stages of the vines and good yields.
In Cinigiano, Tuscany, at the Serego Alighieri Poderi Bell’Ovile, as a whole, the grapes are in excellent health with good analytical values. The white grape harvest began late August with the Sauvignon Blanc and in September it will continue with the other red varieties, starting with Ancellotta.
