Chianti Classico DOCG 2009 vintage: See Chianti Classico DOCG.

2009 Growing season: ‘Abundant spring rain; warm early May; June rain; hot and dry July, August,’ (Nesto & Savino, 2016, p.190). ‘Although initially it looked like 2009 would be known as “another hot vintage” just like 2003, the growing cycle and weather pattern were unsual and in many ways different. Proof of this are the 2009 wines which are much fresher, more aromatic and have more finesse than expected based on the 2009 weather conditions. The winter preceding 2009 was extremely wet, replenishing low water tables, which guaranteed an ongoing water supply for the vines throughout the warm and dry 2009 season. Owing to a very hot May with temperatures shooting up to 30 °C and higher, flowering and fruit set were swiftly completed so that harvest was expected to begin a good 10 days earlier than normal. But the growing cycle rate was greatly slowed down by the middle of May, when it started to rain, which continued for almost 30 consecutive days resulting in increased fungal pressure. But as our vineyards are quite isolated we managed to keep the vines unaffected while using only minimal treatment. The beginning of August was dangerously similar to 2003 with very high day temperatures reaching almost 40°C. This heat spike initially made us fear high levels of alcohol and sunburnt fruit. However, the high altitude of the vineyards and the big difference between day and night temperature preserved the grapes’ freshness while keeping alcohol levels in check. The beginning of September proved hot and dry, but the heat became less intense during the second half of the month and we started the harvest under near perfect conditions on September 24th with the first picking of the Merlot. We finished harvesting by the 8th of October when we brought in the Cabernet Sauvignon, finishing harvest only one week earlier than our norm. Although alcohol levels are slightly up due to higher than average sugar accumulution in the berries, it is paired with good acidity levels and lovely, fresh aromatics,’ (La Porta di Vertine 2007 vintage report from its website, 23 Dec 2013).