Finalmente!

Somewhat later than usual, the harvest is now, during the third week of October, finally complete across the 11 Barolo- and 4 Barbaresco municipalities.

After the sun comes...

RAIN - should be opposite, but not this season in the Barolo and Barbaresco zones of Piemonte.

Up until August, following a rather decent and sunny summer, producers seemed satisfied and with only a month or so to go, how much could go wrong??

A LOT - unfortunately, huge shifts in the weather situation has turned things upside down during September of the 2024 season. Endless rain pouring over the sacred crus has made work in the vineyard heavily demanding, exhausting and difficult with compact soils turning into mud baths, at least in the lower positions of the hills.

The challenges have, unfortunately, affected all municipalities as well as the Dolcetto, Barbera, and Nebbiolo grape varieties.

And as that isn't enough, heavy rains have not solely caused problems in Piedmont this year, but likewise in Champagne and Burgundy, as reported in the 2024 Burgundy Harvest Report, this season has posed challenges with ripening, followed by diseases, and consequently, losses in yield — and, in many places, deterioration of quality for the vintage.

WHAT TO EXPECT - I’ve asked winemakers in both Barolo and Barbaresco about this precious question, and I must say that the answers given in return, from winemakers like Mauro Manzone (Manzone Giovanni) and Pier Guido Busso (Piero Busso) was much alike...

They are relieved to finally have all grapes in house. Relieved to be able to harvest most in a few days dry window. However, it has been challenging to obtain the maturation of previous years and hinder some dilution to occur overall.

Therefore, they do not expect a great, classic vintage like 2019. However say that the most important for consumers to (try to) pay attention to is the individual work of producers as they strongly underline that 2024 will most likely (definitely) be a vintage with multiple faces, showing significant quality differences depending on how hard each producer has worked and chosen to select only healthy grapes (read: how much they have been willing to throw away) in the vineyard, during the harvest.

In any case, they anticipate that this will be a lighter style vintage, in many respects — lighter in structure, making it more approachable and enjoyable at a younger age, and lighter in alcohol volume (probably 13,5% for many Barolo) compared to the robust quality vintages of 2019 and 2020 (more like 14,5%) thats currently in the market.