Harvest 2024, here are the first bunches of grapes. Kicking off the harvest is Settesoli, in Sicily

Between Europe’s largest Archaeological Park, Selinunte, and the vineyard closest to the sea in the world, a stone’s throw away, literally, from the Belice River Mouth Nature Reserve, with grapes looking out to the Mediterranean, the 2024 Italian grape harvest has officially begun. It is Settesoli, one of Sicily’s and Italy’s most important wineries, a cooperative with 6,000 hectares of vineyards, that is kicking off a journey through the rows of Italy that is getting longer and longer due to climate change, beginning in the summer with the earliest varieties in the warmest territories, and ending in autumn, with the later varieties and the coldest territories, emblematic of the Italian wine variety. Among the rows of Settesoli, it started, meanwhile, with the first bunches of Pinot Grigio, and then it will be the turn of Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat and Chardonnay, followed by the other varieties.
“In autumn 2023 and winter 2024, rainfall was significantly below the seasonal average, with only 250 millimeters of rain out of the usual 500-600 millimeters. Limited water reserves in the vineyards”, they explain in Settesoli, “combined with a summer that started early as early as May with high temperatures accelerated all phenological stages of the vine. We observed an early sprouting with an advance of 10 days, followed by an early flowering at the end of April and an equally early veraison. These factors made it necessary to advance the harvest by 12 days over previous years. However, the warm Mediterranean climate created conditions hostile to disease development, with a total absence of powdery mildew, downy mildew and botrytis, and as a result, the grapes are in an excellent and healthy state. Thanks to the temperature range recorded until a few weeks ago, we expect wines characterized by good minerality and acidity, qualities that will allow us to maintain the high standard of our wines”.