October 27th – Stephan Filippi is the enologist at Cantina Bolzano, one of the most important wine producers in the Alto Adige; with its 224 members and 350 hectares of vineyards, this allows him to give us a broad overview of the situation at the time of the particular vintage that is 2022.
Filippi offers his definition of the year: “an incredible vintage! After doing thirty harvests at this company, I can say that only four or five years are comparable to this one”.
A lack of water and abnormal temperatures – very cold in winter and extraordinarily hot in the summer – were the factors that eventually gave rise to excellent grapes.
“Water already began to be scarce in the winter,” Filippi tells us, “when there was less rainfall and lower temperatures than is the norm. The cold also continued into the spring and delayed the beginning of budbreak. Milder temperatures from May onwards brought forward the timing of the subsequent phases of the vines’ development. Flowering coincided with mild temperatures and an absence of rainfall, ensuring a good fruit set. Then the summer arrived, and we weren’t at all sure how the grapes would react”.
The summer of 2022 in the Alto Adige will in fact go down in meteorological history as the second hottest since measuring the weather conditions began in 1850. “What saved us were the marked thermal excursions between day and night, typical of the semi-continental climate we have here”. Also, the availability of water for carrying out irrigation was a stroke of luck that other Regions of Italy did not have.
All this led to precocious ripening of the grapes. Cantina Bolzano’s 350 hectares lie on the slopes of the foothills of the Dolomites, at altitudes of between 200 and 1000 meters; in the vineyards on the valley flour and at low altitudes the grapes ripened about 8-10 days earlier than usual, and 16-18 days earlier in those higher up.
The period of the harvest, therefore, was also brought forward. For the whites, it began in August with the Sauvignon, Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay grapes, and concluded towards the end of September with Gewürztraminer and Moscato Giallo.
At the same time, harvesting began for the red grapes, first with Pinot Nero (on 10th September) and then with the principal grape variety in this zone, Schiava. This was followed by Lagrein, with which we produce our famous Taber, the flagship wine of Cantina Bolzano, which has won Gambero Rosso’s Tre Bicchieri 22 times. Arriving at the first few weeks of October, we proceeded with picking the Merlot and the Cabernet Sauvignon. The harvest came to a final close in the third week of October.
The result is splendid crunchy, healthy grapes, which will produce white wines that are well structured but also slightly alcoholic, given the high level of ripeness. Acidity will have to be well calibrated because it will tend to be low, even for the wines from high-altitude sites. What will benefit are the wines’ aromas, which are expected to be more intense. The red wines, too, will have good fruit and structure; we are forecasting wines with good aging potential.
In particular, a great vintage is predicted for the Santa Maddalenas, made from Schiava, and for Taber, because the Lagrein grapes really benefit from high temperatures. Another treat will be the Merlot which, the enologist anticipates, will give some pleasant surprises.
“A potent vintage that will produce equally potent wines: one of those years that allows you to forget about a few bottles or barriques in the cellar and discover some great wines a few years later,” Stephan Filippi concludes.
