Harvest 2024 in full swing. Confagricoltura: “good quality grapes, but at the mercy of weather”

Italy’s wine industry is increasingly getting into the swing of an early 2024 harvest, from several places. In Sicily, the harvest has already begun in mid-July, in some wineries and several territories on the island, and a few bunches have already been cut in Salento, Puglia, the Tuscan Maremma, and beyond. And from Monday, August 12, the first district to enter the harvest in an organic and massive way will be that of Franciacorta, one of the most important territories in Italy and the excellence of Metodo Classico sparkling wines, with many producers ready with scissors in hand, for a harvest that arrives in a fairly good context for the Lombardy territory.
But, in general, it is a grape harvest, this year's, that comes in a “strange” summer, for Italy, due to the weather, with a country actually divided in two, between the great rainfall in the North and drought in the South, as some of the most established and experienced wine and agronomic consultants and experts in Italy, such as Riccardo Cotarella, Carlo Ferrini, Lorenzo Landi and Leonardo Valenti, also told WineNews. And, as Confagricoltura, the largest employer organization of Italian agriculture, also points out, which speaks of “an early start to the harvest in some regions, mainly in the Center and in the South, and in line in the others; good general quality of the grapes, although at the mercy of climatic developments, which are increasingly decisive. In the North, difficulties are reported for organic producers to maintain high production levels due to heavy spring rains. In the Northeast, hailstorms or, conversely, drought, help paint a patchy picture. In Central Italy, the situation differs from area to area due to uneven weather patterns. In some regions the harvest has already started with sparkling bases and a slight drop in volumes, in other regions the picture is stationary and harvest operations will start next week. Lights and shadows in the South, where drought has affected quantity, but not everywhere. The phytosanitary situation is good, especially compared to 2023, when downy mildew had devastated more than half of the production”. For the president of the Federazione Italiana Vino Confagricoltura, Federico Castellucci, “it is not a homogeneous picture that presents itself today on the viticulture front, and never before has it been as difficult as it is this year to make reliable general forecasts, although the premises are on the whole good. What the sector has in common, however, is concern about market trends, with the confirmation of signs of a downturn at the beginning of the year that are not helping to clear stocks, despite the low volumes of the 2023 harvest”.
Operators, Confagricoltura reports, call the market “cold,” with rising production costs further affecting the final price and consequent repercussions on sales. The supply-demand relationship, the effects of climate change, the wine-health issue and the promotion of the sector, Confagricoltura recalls, “will be the topics at the center of the High Level Wine Group set up by the EU Commission with the aim of ”addressing these challenges and exploring possible solutions. The first of the three meetings will be held on September 11”. For President Castellucci, “the crisis in the sector is more structural than cyclical. In view of the international deadlines, as Fnp (National Product Federations, ed.) Confagricoltura we have put forward some proposals: we hope, for example, for a CAP that is more attentive to the sector and that can help stabilize the market with actions aimed at reducing supply and focused on better positioning in outlet markets”.In Confagricoltura’s view,a reduction in the granting of authorizations for new plantings and a lengthening of the time frame for replanting are necessary, with greater flexibility in the management of urgent support measures. It could, in addition, be useful to encourage the abandonment, in a punctual manner and in specific areas, of production that shows clear market difficulties. “To this,” Castellucci concludes, ”should be added the equally important request for a promotion policy to be implemented taking into account the international context and the difficulties of companies, which should be offered a framework of opportunities that is more flexible and adaptable to the different business realities and those of the target countries.