8 August 2017 I have just received this report from Franchetti on this year's exceptionally dry growing season in Tuscany (friends staying on Etna have been wilting in the exceptionally high temperatures being experienced on his other wine estate):
The freeze of the spring passed over a land that was already completely dried out, as from December through today, it has not rained. It's 45 degrees Celsius, and there's a copper light dancing in the distance above the clay earth. For the drought as for the freeze, the remedy comes at night. The leaves open their pores in the darkness...