Ferrari Trento begins its 2020 harvest

The 2020 harvest in Ferrari’s vineyards is beginning today, Monday 17^th August – some 9 days earlier than last year.

“2020 presents itself as a year with excellent potential. If the weather pattern in the first six months led to earlier vegetative growth of the vines, the month of July, on the other hand, revealed differences in the ripening of the Chardonnay depending on the altitude, making us look forward to a harvest that will be distributed over a certain period of time”: that is a brief summary of the vintage from Marcello Lunelli, Vice President and Technical Director of Ferrari Trento, who – like every year – is getting ready to coordinate Ferrari’s agronomists and oenologists in order to  obtain the very best results from the 2020 harvest as well.

This has been a vintage characterised by mild temperatures, which induced faster growth than in the previous year, thanks to stable, warm weather (particularly in April) that led to the vines’ development taking place about 15 days earlier, both for Chardonnay and for Pinot Nero. Rain showers in May and June, even if they were concentrated in brief periods, resulted in excellent accumulation of water in the soils, thus preventing any sort of stress from drought.

The climate subsequently came into line with seasonal averages, thus leading to the decision to begin the harvest on this date, starting with the Chardonnay vineyards at lower altitudes before moving up, over the space of a month or so, to the higher sites, both of Chardonnay and of Pinot Nero.

As always, harvesting will take place exclusively by hand, thus preserving the bunches and, especially, allowing for further selection of the grapes under the careful supervision of Ferrari’s agronomists, who have been working throughout the year to maintain the health of the vines using sustainable methods. Activity in the vineyards in fact carried on even during the period of lockdown, even if in a modified manner in order to safeguard the health of the workers to an optimum degree. For the harvest, too, special prevention measures against Covid-19 have been put in place, such as daily sanitising of agricultural vehicles, tools and workplaces, and the organisation of teams and transport so as to guarantee social distancing.

Mountainside viticulture, with its typical thermal excursions between day and night, combined with work in the vineyards using methods that are respectful of the environment and of the health of the workers, has therefore enabled us to obtain vines with optimum vegetation. These have in turn produced perfectly healthy grapes with extraordinarily complex aromas, which Ferrari’s oenologists will succeed in transforming into elegant and long-lived Trentodoc sparkling wines.