The harvest is underway in Italy which is expected in 2017 with a overall production down between 10 and 15% compared to 51,6 million hectoliters last year. This is what Coldiretti estimates on the occasion of the beginning of the grape harvest in underlining that the 2017 harvest is classified as the earliest of the last decade with an advance of about ten days compared to last year. To determine the decline in production was - underlines Coldiretti - the bizarre climatic trend with a dry and milder winter, an early budding of the vine which favored damage from late frosts but also persistent drought and localized episodes of hailstorms. Much will depend on the months of August and September but – continues Coldiretti – the current conditions bode well for a good/excellent quality vintage, in particular for the vineyards that have suffered less water shortages or where farmers have managed to intervene with emergency irrigation. The phytosanitary status - explains Coldiretti - is overall good, the dry climate has not favored the development of plant diseases and the sugar content will be higher on average.
Also Confagricoltura agrees on the "average drop in yields which fluctuates between 15 and 20% of production, due to the strong temperature variations and the late frosts of last spring which had made the characteristic bonfires in the vineyards necessary, to then move on to the considerable and prolonged increase in temperatures. As far as quality is concerned - considering the climatic trend from May to today, with temperatures always above 30 degrees and above all the absence of rain - it is believed that this vintage will give good if not excellent wine”.
In Italy the harvest traditionally starts with the pinot and chardonnay grapes in a process which – specifies Coldiretti – will continue in September and October with the harvest of the great native red grapes Sangiovese, Montepulciano, Nebbiolo and which will even end in November with the grapes of Aglianico and Nerello. Coldiretti's estimates will therefore be progressively defined because much will depend on the climatic trend of the weeks preceding the harvest.
The harvest advance concerns practically all the main labels but the production situation is varied along the Peninsula with a 30% drop in Franciacorta while due to the long drought, the production of Chianti and other Tuscan denominations could record a drop in production of 20-30% while the quality of the wine "will always be up to par, but a slight drop in harvest in an excellent year is estimated also for the Primitivo di Manduria", loaded with sugar content, compared to 2016.
From a quantitative point of view, Italy will conquer this year the production primacy compared to France where – concludes Coldiretti – the first estimates for 2017 show a sharp decline in production compared to 2016, for a total currently estimated at between 36-37 million hectoliters due to late frosts. And things aren't even better in Spain where, as well as some areas affected by late frosts, production is being reduced by the drought that is putting the winegrowers to the test.
Italy, Coldiretti still observes, celebrates the record for Made in Italy wine exports, up 4,7% (first quarter 2017 data) compared to last year, reaching 5,6 billion euros on an annual basis, the first item of national agri-food exports. This is an excellent premise for the 2017 harvest which - underlines Coldiretti - involves 650 thousand hectares of vineyards, of which 480 thousand Docg, Doc and Igt and over 200 thousand wineries. In Italy, if there are no upheavals, it is expected that over 40 percent of Made in Italy production will be destined - Coldiretti specifies - to the 332 controlled denomination of origin (DOC) wines and 73 controlled and guaranteed denomination of origin wines (Docg), 30 percent to the 118 typical geographical indication (IGT) wines recognized in Italy and the remaining 30 percent to table wines.
With the beginning of the harvest in Italy, an economic engine is activated that generates over 10,5 billion in turnover only from the sale of wine and that gives job opportunities in the supply chain for 1,3 million people, even if this year there are difficulties caused by the repeal of the vouchers with bureaucratic delays in starting up the new instruments which risk preventing pensioners, students and recipients of income supplements from participating in the collection ritual. After ten years this is the first harvest without vouchers which - recalls Coldiretti - were born precisely to facilitate the operations of harvesting the grapes in 2008.
