Vintage report 2013
The Vintage of 2013
The Climate
March was rather cool and rainy, while April, the month of budburst and May, the month of flowering were both hot.
June was very rainy and cool, while during the end of the first ten days a hail occurred, destroying partially leaves and grapes. Damage was of different severity depending on the plot.
July was rather cool and dry, August dry and hot as well as September, offering us the opportunity to wait for the complete maturity of our varieties. So we had a long and pronounced vintage of very well matured grapes.
Vegetative stages :
Budburst: Beginning of April (normal)
Flowering: 20-30 May (early)
Veraison: 20-30 July (early)
Vintage: 20 August-26 September (early)
What we did
Due to hail, we kept all the lateral shoots in order to replace the destroyed leaf area, taking the risk of powdery mildew infection. The application of sulfur dust two times after nouaison protected our grapes even if weather conditions were favorable for the development of oidium.
For the same reason topping was delayed and it was extremely light so as to keep more leaves. Thanks to the favorable temperature and the sufficient soil moisture, soon the destroyed foliage was replaced by a new one.
The hot and dry July and August combined with the extreme sensitivity of Xinomavro to water stress obliged us to irrigate twice the new vineyards while the old ones having a better tolerance due to their deeper root system received a small amount of water just to keep them functionally correct.
The highlights of the year
• Incomplete development of seeds: Usually in Xinomavro we have 2-3 seeds per berry. This year we had one correctly developed and 1-2 incomplete seeds per berry (less tannins, more mature seeds).
• Bitterness of Xinomavro skin (stress indication) till the end of August and disappearance of this bitterness after the 20th of September
• An impressively quick color extraction resulted in a very deep color of Xinomavro wines
• Exceptional and true to type aromas combined with very good acidity in almost all our varieties.
• Prolonged fermentation period in white varieties
The 2013 vintage evaluation:
White wine: Very good acidity, typical aromatic profile, very good body
Negoska, Moschomavro, Mavrodaphne: Very good nose, typical of each variety, very good color, typical acidity, medium body with the exception of Mavrodaphne which had a very good body
Xinomavro: Very intensive aromatic character, very good color, acidity, pH and body. A very good or exceptional year for Xinomavro