The harvest of Prosecco di Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore Docg: -15% in volume

As expected, quantity is not plentiful, with -15% of grapes ending up in the cellar, between the Unesco hills and the Rive of Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Docg. But all in all, it's not a drama, for a denomination that, in 2022, put 104 million bottles on the market, worth 634 million euros, and that from the historic heartland where the Prosecco that conquered the world was born, looks forward to the goodness of the wines of the 2023 vintage. Thus the Consortium, led by Elvira Bortolomiol, at the end of a harvest that closed a few days ago in the Appellation.
“In the cellar, there is optimism despite the challenges that have engaged the winemakers during the year: the appointment with the harvest this year has been more complex than in previous vintages, especially for meteorological reasons, nevertheless the quality of the grapes conferred is above expectations and this increases confidence for a vintage that will confirm the level of quality to which consumers are now accustomed”, explains the Consortium.

As mentioned, there is 15% decrease in the amount of grapes harvested. This is the most obvious repercussion of the vintage. “But thanks to increasingly precise monitoring in the days preceding the harvest, the grapes arriving at the winery have the correct balance between acidity and Babo index: the alcohol content of the grapes varies depending on the area of harvest, on average it is around 13.9 Babo degrees; for acidity throughout the appellation it settles around 7 grams per liter, thus ensuring the balance needed to pour fresh sparkling wines with character into glasses”. Again, the Consortium explains, early tastings of the musts report good malic acidity and an aromatic framework of equal intensity from the Valdobbidene vineyards. Moving toward the center of the appellation, there is excellent finesse, good olfactory intensity and overall harmony of taste. “Once again, despite the climatic trend not being in line with average values for some parameters”, the Consortium explains, “the territory has shown a great vocation for the Glera variety and this variety a great adaptation to it”. Looking in more detail at the performance of the 2023 vintage, there were alternating dry periods, mainly concentrated in the early 2023 months, and very wet periods from May through the summer. In addition, there was no shortage of major hail events that particularly affected the westernmost part of the appellation. In fact, in the second half of July, when the vineyard was just starting to ripen, hailstorms on July 24 and 25 interrupted the process and it took both the vine and the winemaker two weeks to reorganize. Fortunately, following the hail, the weather returned adequate to the developmental needs of the plants, which generated new vegetation useful for resuming ripening processes. In this context of general complexity, it is emphasized that the good fertility of the plant, helped protect the clusters, the abundant foliage was useful against hail and against excessive heat.

This, at least, is the overall picture of a Denomination, protected by the Consorzio del Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Docg, which oversees a production territory that includes 15 municipalities (Conegliano, San Vendemiano, Colle Umberto, Vittorio Veneto, Tarzo, Cison di Valmarino, San Pietro di Feletto, Refrontolo, Susegana, Pieve di Soligo, Farra di Soligo, Follina, Miane, Vidor and Valdobbiadene) and groups together 209 sparkling wine houses, 431 winemakers and 3,351 winemaking families engaged in the production of Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore.