The year began with a very dry and mild winter. A cool spring slightly delayed vine budding, but the normal growth cycle was restored by a very warm and sunny May. The first vines flowered on the earliest sites in the middle of the month, and the fine weather then led to a rapid flowering process. On the higher sites, flowering was finished by the beginning of June. Due to an exceptionally hot and dry summer, there were few problems with fungal attack, but the lack of rainfall pushed the vines to their limits in some cases. Rainfall and thunderstorms at the end of July and beginning of August put an end to the lack of water, thus averting drought stress and related quality problems and generating the comforting prospect of an early harvest. Harvesting began on August 24 on the earliest sites. The result was fully ripe and extremely healthy grapes with slightly reduced levels of acidity.

Cool storage at constant temperatures, high level of humidity and as little light as possible
Cellar temperature: 10 - 15 °C

Alto Adige is one of Italy's smallest wine-growing areas. Located as it is at the interface between the Alpine north and the Mediterranean south, it is also one of its most diverse. Countless generations have shaped Alto Adige as a land of wine, where vines grow on various types of soil and in a range of climate zones at between 200 and 1,000 meters above sea-level. It is the home of authentic wines with a character of their own, with a focus on white wines: About 60 percent of the sites are planted with white varieties and only 40 percent with red.

The high peaks of the main Alpine chain protect South Tyrol from the Atlantic winds and cold northerlies, while the region benefits from the Mediterranean climate from the south. That explains the pronounced differences between day- and night-time temperatures, which are the key to full maturity and elegant wines.

To the south, a number of mountain massifs like the Adamello also have a protective function. As a result, annual precipitation is only about one-third of the average for the southern Alpine foothills, and the number of hours of sunshine is higher. The climatic conditions are not unlike those to be found in wine-growing areas like the Swiss Canton Valais.

When the sun rises behind the mountains east of Terlano on one of the year’s 300 sunny days, it is already high in the sky as the wine-growing area has a westerly to southwesterly exposure. The lower atmospheric density permits more direct solar irradiation with less diffuse sunlight. That increases the difference between the slopes on the sunny and shady sides of the valley.

Microclimate in Terlano
Continental climate (Cfa Köppen-Geiger)

Annual sunshine hours: ø 2135
Maximum temperatures: 38,2 °C
Average temperatures: 12,9 °C
Minimum temperatures: -10,7°C
Annual precipitation: ø 558 mm
Average global radiation: 150,1 W/m²
Winds:
- North foehn: cool and dry down-slope wind
- Ora: valley wind system from the south, bringing in air from the Po Valley