2018 towards an excellent, abundant harvest for Italian sparkling wines

After knocking on wood, crossing fingers, and always keeping a close eye on the sky, the sentiment is decidedly optimistic for the 2018 harvest quality and quantity wise in the most important Italian sparkling wine territories, as the heads of Italian sparkling wine Consortiums have told WineNews, upon examining the first grapes harvested. One of the first territories to begin harvesting is Franciacorta, and as the vice-president of the Franciacorta Consortium, Silvano Brescianin, explained, “the harvest is underway, but we are taking our time because ripening is also going slowly. Right now we are harvesting Pinot Noir but we are only at the beginning. The grapes are healthy and abundant, and so far the vintage is generous, thus we are hoping that the weather will hold and there will be no hailstorms. Quantity wise we will be just above average, about 10-15% more than 2016, but these are only estimates”. Continuing in the Lombardy region, harvesting has begun also in Oltrepò, home of the classic method based on Pinot Noir. “At the moment, everyone that has sparkling bases of Pinot Noir, which is showing optimum balanced ripening curves, has begun harvesting”, emphasized the director of the Consortium, Emanuele Bottiroli “and an excellent level of acidity. We expect quantities will be + 20-25% more than 2017”. In the Trentino region harvesting of grapes that produce “mountain bubbles” has begun in the last few days, said the president of the Istituto Trentodoc, Enrico Zanoni. “The 2018 vintage has had an optimal trend and temperatures are determining the harvest will be of excellent quality”. On the Prosecco side, both for DOC and for the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore DOCG, we started with “complementary” grapes, first of all Chardonnay, but we will have to wait a little longer for Glera. All aspects give us a positive outlook both in quality and quantity, said the presidents of the Prosecco Consortium DOC, Stefano Zanette, and DOCG, Innocente Nardi. The harvest will not start before the end of the month in Asti, said the director of the Piedmont Consortium, Giorgio Bosticco, “grapes are healthy, and quantity wise, we will be within the specification average, 100 quintals per hectare”.