2012 barolo harvest

[Andrew Gyorke]

Anyone have any info on how the 2012 Piemonte harvest is going? I'm going over there first of October for a triathalon and was interested in visiting some wineries.
Thanks,
Andy Gyorke

[YacobovE]

Just got back from Piedmont, most are planning to start harvest in the next few weeks.

[John Morris]

The nebbiolo normally wouldn't come in for another six weeks or so, and even Barbera is weeks away, I think.

Andrew - October is truffle season, and the peak tourist season. You may want to book a hotel now. It's also a very busy time for winemakers, so may be greeted by momma or the office assistant at that time of year.

[Andrew Gyorke]

Will be there first 10 days of October, so I hope truffle (to keep traffic lower on the roads for cylcling) is late and nebbiolo is early!

[Tim Heaton]

The majority of growers have either finished the Barbera harvest already, or are doing so this week. Nebbiolo will begin for some as early as this week (even some of the Crus) and last for another week, perhaps two depending on who is making the picking decision.

A hot, mostly dry summer (and the August hail storm) morphed into a September with cooler temperatures, but more importantly too little sunshine - cloudy and ugly 90% of the time. Only in the past week or so has there been a fair amount of sunshine. Too little too late though.

All of the challenges have resulted in markedly lower production, though what is left on the vines is good. Perhaps a few will have great fruit, but on the whole, good is much more likely. Challenging work nearly all year so far in the vineyards.

[John Morris]

The rule of thumb was that a bad wine vintage meant good truffles, but a hot dry summer doesn't sound auspicious. Any sense of the truffle quality this year, Tim?