San Polo Montalcino - Diario della Vendemmia 2017

DIARIO DELLA VENDEMMIA 2017 HARVEST DIARY San Polo continues its journey with ever- increasing international acclaim: guests, importers, simple enthusiasts, and customers from all over the world are particularly impressed by the position of our vineyards. Montalcino is a marvellous wine growing territory but is not all the same: what counts most is altitude, southerly exposure, good air circulation, and how the vineyards fit in with the surrounding landscape. We have all this, together with a winery inspired and built according to the most modern criteria of eco-architecture and production processes that adhere strictly to innovative organic standards. What I mean, quite simply, is that we are ‘likeable’ because we know how to please different sensibilities: we offer an emotional experience, beauty, respect for the environment and quality wine within a single, harmonious context. In his introduction to the 2017 diary, Riccardo Fratton rightly reminds us that these characteristics, our identity, become even more open to scrutiny in complex vintages, where what makes a difference – even if you are located in the ancient and noble appellation of Montalcino – is your specific terroir, which alleviates your worries in difficult times and enhances even the minutest potential. So, I accept the invitation: in 2022, we’ll drink Brunello San Polo, thinking of the harvest five years earlier, the final phase of a process of hard, tiring and complex work that our ‘high- lands’ and our highly-motivated and well- trained team brought to a successful end. These diaries are wonderful because they exude awareness of personal skills, pride in one’s potential, the desire to leave one’s mark and to aspire to new goals. Perhaps it is true to say that I was courageous when I fell in love with San Polo but now, if I look closely, I can see that its lovers have grown in number and, like a seemingly magical flash mob, they could easily assemble and form a heart big enough to embrace the Company’s estates. 52 53