L’Annata 2019 Nebbiolo – Valtellina, Alto Piemonte, Roero, e Langhe

• 3 May 2023 /

Valtellina, Lombardia – a regular growing season, without excesses, with rain when the vines needed it, & little disease pressure. The harvest occurring later than in 2018, giving more finezza & less alcohol. 

Alto Piemonte – as per their friends & colleagues in the Basso Piemonte below, 2019 was a classic vintage in the Alto Piemonte, with regular rain showers, no frost or hail (or deer) damage, an importantly warm & dry July, & a perfect September & mid-October harvest. Quantità e Qualità, 2019 is particularly fine in Alto Piemonte! 

Roero & Langhe – after a relatively normal winter, with some snow in Jan/Feb, a cold & wet May/June that caused the flowering to be interrupted & hence growth delayed, whilst providing ample water for the season ahead. It was thanks to the relatively cool April/May that growers had time to get behind the vegetative growth. In late June/July there was a heat spike that seemed less problematic/high than other parts of Europe (Iberia & France) but which knocked the vine, disturbed the (phenolic) ripening process & compounded the vegetative delay, pushing the harvest date back by 10 days, with Roero & Barolo starting their Nebbiolo harvest wc 9 Oct, while Monforte, Castiglione Falletto, & Serralunga began wc 14 Oct. Regular rain showers influenced pHs – some 15% less rain fell in 2019, with 21% fewer rainy days, than in 2018 but 15% more rain in 2019 than in 2016! – ensured that the vine was never stressed throughout the year.  A regular Sept/Oct season, with notable diurnal shift/temp. excursion (vs. warmer ’18) helping the skins to thicken & phenols to ripen notably from week commencing 7th Oct, with rain setting in from 19 Oct.; peronospera reared its head but no presence of susukii flies. In 2019 skins were thicker, more ‘old school’, with more skin to pulp than in 2018. On 5th Sept. hail swept through La Morra, lower Castiglione Falletto, lower Serralunga d’Alba, Grinzane Cavour & the lower slopes of Diano, Madonna di Como, brushing San Rocco Seno’d’Elvio.  

Vintage 2019 in four words: classic, fresh, vertical, sinewy?