MONTE COMPATRI (Frascati – Province of Rome)

The winter was not cold, the temperature very seldom went below 0 degrees Celsius. There was a good rainfall. The budding phase of the vines started 15 days earlier than usual. Also the flowering phase started 15 days ealier during the first week of June. Then it was cool and rainy in July so that the vegetative cycle became longer. At the end of July the weather got better. The temperature was not very high in August and there were a few rains. Starting from mid September and throughout October there was a beautiful “Roman summer”!

Lorenzo Costantini owner of the homonymous estate (Frascati Superiore DOC, Lazio IGT):”..We picked 20% of the grapes on the 15th of September, then we stopped for nearly a month, in order to let the grapes ripen, and we continued from the 10th till the 15th of October. The alcoholic strength of the Frascati wines is slightly lower in comparison to the previous vintages, the aromatics are lovely. The clusters were perfect. The grape yield was lower this year..The harvest was good. We finished picking the red varieties for the production of Lazio Rosso a week ago (on the 20th of October), it is therefore still early to judge the wines. The clusters were perfectly ripe. Also the grape yield of the red varieties was lower. The harvest of the Malvasia and Sauvignon Blanc grapes went very well, the wines have a good acidity and good aromatics. The Syrah grapes were beautiful…The production of Petit Verdot was lower than usual.. (Malvasia, Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah and Petit Verdot are from vineyards in the province of Latina belonging to a friend of Lorenzo’s. Lorenzo bottles the wine, vinified at a local winery, with “Borgo del Cedro” label)”