A shot of Pinot Grigio and harvest notes, just in from our good friend Giampaolo Venica. (The click through to his Twitter is worth it, btw, just for the profile pic.)

Ciao Jeremy,

This is the first image from our 2012 harvest.

Very challenging vintage in Friuli Venezia Giulia: what they call the Sahara high-pressure hump kept us without water from months. Only old vineyards could handle this dryness while most of the younger vines suffered deeply. We managed to provide a minimum water supply but of course it is not possible everywhere is not possible and in some places the creeks have also stopped flowing.

Driving through Colli and Collio Orientali, where hills make emergency irrigation difficult, you can see yellow leaves on vines that recall autumn despite the 35°.

Indeed here we are with a good quality of grapes, balanced sugar and acid levels and a minus 20% of crop.

All of us are waiting for the Sunday announced storm that hopefully will bring relief to the region.

Un abbraccio