{"id":3554,"date":"2014-08-27T10:30:50","date_gmt":"2014-08-27T15:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/belecasel.com\/?p=3554"},"modified":"2020-05-07T21:06:20","modified_gmt":"2020-05-07T19:06:20","slug":"prosecco-harvest-2014-rain-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.belecasel.com\/en\/2014\/08\/27\/prosecco-harvest-2014-rain-sun\/","title":{"rendered":"Praying for the sun in Prosecco"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"deleafing<\/a><\/p>\n

Above: Grape grower and winemaker Luca Ferraro has been de-leafing the vines and dropping bunches that he doesn’t want to use in vinification. By de-leafing, he allows the vines to see more precious sunlight. It also helps to aerate the bunches and eliminate humidity and subsequent rot and mildew. “We can only pray for sun at this point,” he notes plaintively in the video below.”<\/em><\/p>\n

In the following video, grape grower and winemaker Luca Ferraro walks through one of his family’s vineyards and describes the tenuous situation there.<\/p>\n

After nearly 20 days of rain in July and an August that has been similarly cool and wet, he is facing an enormous challenge in battling rot and mildew in the vines.<\/p>\n

You’ll note how he shows darkened berries in otherwise healthy bunches: the excessive humidity has led to the spread of rot.<\/p>\n

“We’re planning to make a meticulous selection of the grapes after harvest,” he says, noting that “we’ve already dropped a lot of fruit in the vineyards in this particularly challenging vintage.”<\/p>\n

Toward the end of the clip, you’ll notice how the youngest leaves on the top of the canopy are affected (“burned”) by peronospora. It’s hard to eliminate because it continues to rain every other day or so.<\/p>\n

Here’s a link to an English translation of Luca’s last assessment of the situation in the vineyards.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

“We can only pray for sun at this point,” he says, noting that at 10 a.m. on August 27, he wore a scarf when he left the house.<\/p>\n