We began harvesting on September 10th with the Chenin. We then picked the Carbernets for the rose to preserve freshness. We started in the Picasses onthe 17th and ended on the 25th. It’s going to be a nice, full bodied vintage.

It had all been looking so promising. A balanced spring; relatively cool, with just the right amount of rainfall. Towards the end of June, the temperatures suddenly increased and the vines responded enthusiastically. The grapes were looking very promising and we were optimistic about this year's harvest. At the end of July, we'd wrapped up the manual vineyard work (removed excess leaves, thinned grape bunches, tucked all the shoots into the wires) and we were ready for the August break before the run-up to harvest.  

I remember it well. August 2nd. It was a Saturday morning. The night before there had been a violent summer storm rumbling not so far away and we were all watching the clouds to see if the storm would come our way. Fortunately it didn't. 

The next morning was cool. We were in the cellar deciding upon the final blend for our Sassaia 2024. Rain was forecast but given that the temperatures were so low, no-one imagined the damage the storm would bring. 

The hail hit the hills above Gambellara, where we have two-thirds of our vineyards. (For context, we have 18 hectares in 13 different places, all around the small town of Gambellara but at different altitudes and expositions.)

Of the vineyards affected, it wiped out approximately 80% of the crop. 

We started harvest as usual around early September. Progress was fast; there wasn't much to pick and conditions wouldn't permit a long ripening this year. 

The evening of September 24th, the hail clouds came for us a second time. This time, the storm stripped the vineyards closer to the winery (the ones which had been largely spared the previous month's wrath.)

We went out the next day, with hail stones still on the ground, to pick whatever was left. 

By October 1st, when we normally kick into gear, harvest was over. 

What little wine we made went smoothly (no problem with fermenations) but let's wait until the spring to see what we'll do with it. 

P.S. If anyone reading this has any experience with hail cannons, please get in touch!"

The 2025 harvest began on August 29th, marking one of the earliest starts in the estate’s history. A hot, dry summer accelerated ripening across the vineyards and led to reduced yields, yet the fruit arrived in excellent condition, with concentration and balance that reflect the resilience of the sites in Œuilly.

For the second consecutive year, harvesting was carried out exclusively in 12-kilo crates. This method ensures that clusters remain intact with minimal pressure before pressing, while also allowing closer attention to the specific character of each parcel. A specialized team monitored the fruit directly in the vineyard, carefully selecting bunches to guarantee that only healthy grapes reached the cellar.


The season highlighted the diversity of the estate’s terroirs. Certain parcels, particularly those on lighter soils, produced riper fruit with greater richness, while cooler or more chalk-influenced sites preserved freshness and tension. This contrast reinforces the importance of vinifying each parcel separately, maintaining the individual expression of the vineyards.


Overall, the 2025 harvest was limited in volume but consistent in quality. The wines now in the cellar will carry forward the character of the year: precise, expressive, and faithful to the conditions that shaped them.

Year after year, the grape harvest is becoming increasingly difficult to predict, with vintages that follow one another but are completely different. We had planned to start on September 1st, but we had to move the start date forward to August 25th in a hurry, without our usual team, in order to save the grapes in the Maillons vineyard. The climate in the Sezannais region is much warmer than on our slopes in the Petit Morin area.

The ripening process accelerated dramatically around August 15th, and the alcoholic potentials jumped by 2.5% in a single week. It was unprecedented.

In order to maintain balance, we started with the sunniest vineyards (Maillons then Roises) and finished 15 days later with the Jardin d'Ulysse vineyard, which faces mostly north.

The harvest is exceptional in quality. The wines are balanced with vibrant acidity and reasonable ripeness. We are completely satisfied, thanks to everyone's hard work.

This year we finally had a good harvest after two terrible years of drought and excessive rain.

The spring was rainy, but we managed it well. Summer was dry, but the soil had a good water reserve so the plants didn't suffer. Except for one week in July, the nights were cool, allowing the grapes to develop good acidity.

The harvest was quite early, between the last days of August and the first days of September. The resulting wines so far show a nice freshness and persistent aromas, and we hope they will continue to evolve well this winter.

I've attached some photos.

2025: A Nice Year!

We are able to reclaim some optimism with this vintage. No crazy weather, no frost in April, a dry Spring favorable to the vines' development, a flowering in early June that indicated we'd be harvesting early. We had a pretty violent storm in July that caused some damages around us; we were spared and actually benefited from the the rain: the result was an acceleration of maturities as the usual heat of summer ramped up starting on August 10th. 

Our team was ready to pick its first grapes on September 1st, the Chardonnay destined for our Crémant. We then harvested the earliest ripening Sauvignons, followed by the Pinot Noirs, all of which were beautiful and perfectly ripe. White or red, we brought in a very satisfactory average of 40hl/ha. From the beginning, everything is pointing toward 2025 being an excellent vintage: excellent balance, not too much sugar and, for the reds, good fruit and supple tannins. 

From September 16th to the 24th, we picked the Romorantin. It was exceptionally early for this variety, but nonetheless the quality and quantity was excellent. As of this writing, the last vats are finishing their fermentations but there is still a lot of work to do. With Romorantin you really need to take your time. Aging it on the lees is very important for a good expression of the teroir and the vintage. 

In the end, 2025 lives up to its "year ending in 5" reputation which for whatever reason is always memorable and exceptional!

The 2025 harvest was long for us, lasting about a month! It was characterized by a lot of rain, so it was often necessary to interrupt the harvesting.

At the beginning of June, we unfortunately experienced a hailstorm, which mainly affected the Sauvignon Blanc: we won't be able to produce a pure Sauvignon Blanc in 2025 because we harvested very little of it! However, the damage to the other affected grapes was contained; in fact, the overall quantity was almost the same as last year, but all the wines have about one and a half degrees more alcohol.

We had a somewhat strange summer where the intense heat arrived in June, while in July it was often cloudy and not very hot. This helped the vines avoid water stress. In the end, we were happy because the grapes were beautiful, and we didn't have any fermentation problems in the cellar.

2025 feels like the polar opposite of its neighbor 2024. The dry climate we saw is in fact more reminiscent of nice years like 2020 and 2022. 

Winter was rainy up until mid-March, followed by nice weather without any extreme spikes, leading to a healthy spring void of illness; only four treatments were applied the entire season which is pretty exceptional. 

Flowering was early and followed by a dry and hot summer punctuated by good, necessary rains in July. But then August was very dry, seriously accelerating the grapes' maturities. We were worried the vines would suffer from hydric stress in the sandy sectors; while this was a legitimate concern it only ended up lowering yields in these areas a tiny bit. We did get some rain at the end of August, but it didn't do much to change our very precocious harvest date.

We started with some Chenin at the very end of August for our yet to be released sparkling wine, then early September for the dry whites. The Cabernet Franc was just as early-ripening as 2022. The wines are concentrated and reminiscent of GOOD hot years like 2018, 2020 and 2022 yet with their own, very interesting balance. And despite their relatively low acidity, the 2025 are still very juicy and salivating. 

We're also happy to announce that 2025 will see the return of "Croix Boissée Blanc" which had not been produced in the last few vintages.

"The Sparse and Inconsistent Glimpses of Beauty"

(cit. from the film “The Great Beauty” by Sorrentino)

The beginning of the 2025 season saw us in the vineyard early. Starting in 2024,
we took over two hectares of young, somewhat wild vineyards, divided among Cesanese, Lecinaro, and Capolongo (the latter two being native grape varieties of southern Ciociaria). Beginning with the 2024 vintage, these two have joined Cesanese in its rosé version and have given life to a new white wine, a 100% Capolongo which I hope will soon also be available in the USA.

Under a mild, sunny winter used to pre-prune the larger vineyards, Spring arrived early. Between April and May, the first 2024 wines were bottled, and the beautiful secondary fermentation of our Passerina Frizzante began. We reached June feeling positive about a vintage that seemed promising. The sun, however, came on strong, with rain falling on the weekends. The “hat” worn every Saturday by Monte Scalambra, which dominates the valley and the vineyards, cast ominous signs. Alas, those negative omens became reality on Sundays June 15 and 22nd and Monday June 30th, when three heavy hailstorms struck three different vineyards, all planted to Cesanese.

I was reminded of the final scene of the film The Great Beauty, in which the protagonist speaks of how inconsistent Beauty is when compared to the End. We were very sad, but not discouraged. Ten years of work in agro-homeopathy and the work on preparations carried out by Geminiano truly helped us this year, and we treated the affected grapes with a preparation derived from the endophytes of vine shoots collected in Spring and from bee propolis. It was early summer; the grapes aborted the berries that were badly damaged by hail but carried everything else through.

The second major obstacle came after August 15th. A rainy disturbance and a sudden drop in temperature put the grapes, which were in their final stage of ripening, somewhat into crisis. This was especially true for the Passerina which no longer wanted to increase its sugar levels, presenting itself at harvest with sugars that made us understand that for the 2025 white would be lower in alcohol.

Cesanese is always a true thoroughbred, and despite the hail and a somewhat cool end of August, it gave its very best. Certainly, we did not harvest the same quantity as in the abundant 2024 vintage (a vintage dear to my heart, as well as marking ten years of activity!), but we cared for and worked our grapes in a truly artisanal way, with attention to every single cluster. For Cesanese, we chose to carry out micro-vinifications, even harvesting small portions of a vineyard, paying close attention to the right moment of ripeness.

As for the new Lecinaro grapes, this year we also vinified them as a red wine base, therefore on the skins for the entire spontaneous fermentation. A very pleasant red wine was born, tasting of raspberry and blueberry. It could be a charming companion, in a small percentage, for the Cesanese Raphaël... I guess that's a small spoiler for the 2025 vintage! 

Staying with new developments, Capolongo also confirmed itself as a very promising grape with great potential. A white wine that tastes of sun, intense, with a light presence of tannins that hints at its long capacity to age in bottle.

The well-known white grapes of our region, Passerina and Trebbiano, kept us busy almost until the end of October! We waited as long as possible for the harvest, carrying out small, targeted pickings—first for the base of the frizzante and then for Raphaël Passerina. The wine that is now aging in concrete is like a French poem, whispering delicate words of love.

Love always remains central in our daily life as winegrowers and producers; without this Force, it would truly be difficult to face and confront everything that changes, from the climate to the economy of the world.