he growers are happy with 2007. Even in this region harvest was about 10 days earlier than usual, although the vegetative cycle of the vines started 15-20 days before average. Luckily the cool nights of end of July and August slowed the vines so that ripening of the grapes was complete at harvest.

MONTEFORTE D’ALPONE (Province of Verona) Sandro Gini – Azienda Agricola Gini (Soave Classico DOC, Recioto di Soave DOCG): “Winter was mild and dry…the vines bloomed early, in springtime there was rain and flowering was good, during the summer grapes changed colour (veraison phase) 15-20 days earlier than usual. In summer it was hot and dry, but luckily it was cool at night which resulted in freshness and acidity for the wines. We are happy. Wines are well-balanced, acidity is higher than expected and sugar content is 15% higher than average. Grape yield was lower than other vintages. We carried out a careful cluster selection in the vineyard and we harvested in two different periods. Clusters were flawless. Once the alcoholic fermentation was over the wines had good aromas, were sapid and had good volume. The quality is high. We started picking on the 25t h of September, as we waited for the ripening process to be complete. We finished on the 10t h of October.

COSTEGGIOLA (Province of Verona) Gaetano Tamellini of Azienda Agricola Tamellini – Sole US Importer Vin Divino Ltd – (Soave Classico DOC, Soave DOC, Recioto di Soave DOCG): “Winter was mild and dry, we only had 1-2 weeks of intense cold. In springtime there was rain before the vines bloomed. In June and in August we had very little rain so that we had to irrigate the vines. Due to the climate, the vegetative cycle was very early in springtime, it then slowed down in summer and picked up again after mid August. Harvest was 10 days earlier than in 2006. Grapes were flawless and ripe. It was a long harvest as we carried out a careful selection of clusters in the vineyard. Yields were average as in 2006.We started picking on the 12t h of September and finished on the 18t h of October…” T

NEGRAR (Province of Verona): Antonio Mazzi – Azienda Agricola Mazzi (Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOC, Recioto della Valpolicella Classico DOC, Valpolicella Classico Superiore DOC):”The harvest was 10 days early. We started on the 10t h of September and we finished after three weeks. It was a warm year, but we had rain at the end of July which re-balanced the situation. The pressing of the grapes for the production of Amarone is scheduled for the beginning of December (instead of January). This is a positive vintage, wines have good colour, good aroma, good acidity, good alcohol content and are rich. As grape yield was lower (-10%) we had to carry out less green pruning and green harvest. ..We are happy..”