The 2022 grape harvest started very early, on 17 August. It was the result of a very hot season, as dry as ever in history. An early spring with immediately high temperatures that led Pratello, in order to avoid sunburn, not to defoliate the grapes, protecting them from oxidation or the too violent heat of the sun.
The ripening was brought forward because of the strong heat. Pratello was afraid of having less intense aromatics, but in reality he obtained very clean musts, with less vertical, more horizontal aromatic fragrances, but still very interesting.
The quality of the grapes is excellent. In some areas where the soil is thinner, dry, morainic, the winery had critical points due to drought, so it intervened with relief irrigation, which allowed it to maintain good cluster development and good pulp density.
The production was slightly higher than the previous year, which had in any case been a year of extreme drought, so from a quantitative point of view the winery is very happy.
Pratello is still finishing the harvest, the red reserves are missing. It will only be possible to give a complete reading of the vintage in 20 days’ time, when the fermentation of the reds is finished.
To date, the winery is extremely happy. The Lugana has honoured it with a much cleaner aromatic profile than in previous years, partly because by virtue of the ripening of the last two years, which had ‘run off’ towards higher alcohol concentrations, Pratello has slightly brought forward the harvest in order to preserve the fragrance, integrity of the fruit and acidity, so as to have crisper, brighter wines.
Same concept for the rosés. The company has made several harvests with different types of grapes. This has made it possible to date to have almost completely available (because some grapes that are finishing fermentation are missing) different types of rosé, not only in colour but also in aromatic, mineral and acidity profiles.