The 2022 for i heroic wines it will be remembered as a crazy wine year. In the Aosta Valley yes harvest already from mid-August, but in Sicily, on Etna, perhaps it will start in mid-September, at least 10 days late. It is an Italy literally split in two: from North to South, that of the heroic harvest, with the manoeuvres, mostly manual, which must be used to harvest the grapes in the most inaccessible vineyards and with the greatest impact on biodiversity in our country. the Cervim, the Center for Research, Studies, Safeguarding, Coordination and Enhancement for Mountain Viticulture, which has the pulse of the situation of all the cellars located in the most remote and hardly practicable (heroic to be precise) corners of Italy has traced a picture of the situation that reveals numerous problems in the sector.
In Valle d'Aosta the harvest twenty days earlier in Valle d'Aosta is accompanied by a lower production (30% drop) cause drought e hot. Whoever was able to irrigate about half of the Aosta Valley vineyard survived. Stefano Celli, president of Cervim and a winemaker from the Aosta Valley, raises a cry of alarm: "The quantity is decreasing throughout the Valle d'Aosta. Those who have been able to carry out emergency irrigation have not suffered significant decreases in product, those who have not had this possibility, especially in the terraces and steps where there is less drainage, the productions are really scarce. As far as quality is concerned, we will have to wait for the grapes in the tanks. The harvest is around three weeks in advance: for the Blanc de Morgex vine, grown at high altitudes, the harvest already starts at the end of August; while the Petit rouge (Torrette and Chambave), will be harvested from mid-September”.
In addition to drought, the greater costs of energy and fuel weigh
"The situation is aggravated - adds Celi - by the general context, with the increase in production costs, in particular of energy and fuels which have increased both the costs of irrigation and processing and of raw materials, to which must be added the scarce availability of glass bottles that are difficult to find”.
In Valtellina there is anticipation for his majesty's harvest Nebbiolo (Chiavennasca) symbol of the wine biodiversity of Valtellina, where a 20% drop in production is expected and a difficult year due to drought and heat. “The drought has also affected the vineyards of Valtellina – confirms Danilo Drocco, president of the Consorzio Vini Valtellina and director of the Nino Negri winery, the few rains that there have been, were immediately dried by the wind and high temperatures. Furthermore, in the terraces, with little land available, the water is drained and is not available to the plants. Fewer problems down below, where the quality is generally good. The harvest will take place a week in advance, in the last week of September”.
In Trentino Alto Adige anomalous heat and prolonged drought set the harvest machine in motion more than 15 days before the harvest. "A vintage that we will remember not so much for the quality, which is also being found in the bunches harvested, but for the uncertainties of organization, with harvest times never seen before" - explains the director of the Aldeno Cellar, Walter Weber. We started with the spumante base whites, the pinot noirs and the Lagrein is just around the corner. “We are particularly concerned about the acidity of the red wines, which however have been helped by the rains of the last few days - continues Weber - here we can expect a change in the behavior of the vines, therefore a different vitivinicultural approach, with wines with high alcohol content ”.
In Toscana, in the Colli del Candia and Colli Apuani area, in the province of Massa-Carrara, the situation is not so different with a harvest that is starting these days, about 10 days earlier than usual. “The climate inevitably changes, however our advantage is that we can still invest in supporting water resources, if anything in the future there will be a need for them”, comments the president of the Candia Colli Apuani Consortium and owner of the Calevro winery, Fabrizio Bondielli. “The lack of viticulture in our area would mean hydrogeological landslides, displacement of the hilly landscape and loss of identity – concludes Bondielli – biodiversity has saved our heroic viticulture”.
In Campania overlooking the Amalfi coast, in Furore (Salerno), the vineyards of Marisa Cuomo are ready for the harvest without particular problems or advances dictated by the climatic situation. Here it is biodiversity that safeguards the vine. “Ours are ungrafted vines that are over 80 years old – he explains Andrea Ferraioli, owner and agronomist – they react to the heat in a natural way, exploiting the humidity that is created in the dry stone walls that support them and in the vaporization of the sea, the pergolas do the rest by keeping the ground in the shade”.
It is increasingly difficult to find people who can resist the heaviness of heroic viticulture
“Heroic viticulture, entirely manual and in extreme conditions, not suitable for those suffering from vertigo”. The problem is another in Furore: the workforce. “We cannot find people who can resist the heaviness of heroic viticulture, all manual and in extreme conditions, not suitable for those who suffer from vertigo”, continues Ferraioli who nonetheless sees biodiversity as the secret of tomorrow's viticulture.
Moving on to Sardinia, on the Island of Antioco (Carbonia-Iglesias), everything is ready for the harvest of the whites, slightly earlier than last year, but, in the opposite case, the heat and drought have stopped the maturation course of the Carignano. To say it is the president of the Cantina Sardus Pater, Raffaele DeMatteis. “We have centuries-old vines that react naturally to climate change, we cannot even provide irrigation on the island, even if it is allowed; therefore, the decision to have continued on planting layouts considered archaic was the secret of maintaining the vine”, says De Matteis.
To conclude the Sicilia. On the other hand, along the slopes of Etna, in Castiglione di Sicilia (Catania), the right moment is expected to begin, in the canonical times, the collection of sparkling white wines, probably by mid-September (at least a week later). The rains of the last two weeks have in fact stopped the ripening. For reds like Nerello, we will have to wait until October. “The climate change underway has led to the ripening of wine grapes at a thousand meters, which did not happen until less than ten years ago – he comments Vincenzo Child, the oenologist of the Tornatore cellars – therefore harvesting high up was a bet that today is proving us right”. Biodiversity, here as never before, takes on an even more illustrative value. “I can confidently say that in our 60 hectares I could be able to obtain completely different wines from the same grapes and this is the added value of Etna and the luck of those who, like Tornatore, bet here in unsuspecting times”, concludes Bambina.
