Above: Franciacorta dreaming. This photo and the one below were taken today, August 28.

Writing “on the run” this morning from the road but just had to share these photos sent to me this morning by my friend and client Silvano Brescianini, who reports that they’ve begun picking the Pinot Nero in Franciacorta.

In the image above, you can see the morainic hills (glacial debris) that violently shoot up from the landscape. The subsoil that lies at the foot of those hills is part of what gives Franciacorta it’s uniquely salty, mineral-driven character.

You can also see the clouds, owed in part to the maritime influence of nearby Lake Iseo: the clouds help to keep the fruit cool during these last days before harvest, helping to create the nuanced aromatic character of the wines made there.

Above: Feast your eyes on those Pinot Nero babies!

In the wake of a cold and rainy spring, harvest has begun late in Franciacorta.

“The 2013 harvest will be remembered as a vintage defined by late-ripening,” wrote Silvano in a press release issued by the Franciacorta consortium (he’s the vice president). “This works to our advantage because the grapes are picked when temperatures are cooler. This is fundamental for the evolution of the aromas and for obtaining the correct acidic balance.”

Read my translation of the entire document, including notes on the yields here.

In other harvest 2013 news…

This week, my friend and client Gianni Cantele has completed the Chardonnay harvest in Puglia.

And he picked some of his Negroamaro early to make a new sparkling wine (!).

And in Sicily, despite some rain and a few technical difficulties (a “sobbing fridge”), my friend Marilena Barbera has vinified her Bambina, a rosé from Nero d’Avola, a favorite wine of mine.

Harvest in Italy has only just begun. Stay tuned!