Towards 2026 harvest, many front-row consortia cut the yields of denominations

The 2026 harvest season is getting closer, yet in Italian wineries, overall, there is more than one average production vintage which is worth of stocked wine (49.1 million hectoliters on May 31st, 2026). Many important wine producing regions have already decided, or are in the process of deciding, to adopt supply management and containment measures, primarily through yield reductions compared to the limits set by production regulations, but also through storage programs and other mechanisms. The aim is to curb production during a difficult market phase and, above all, to prevent excessive volumes from driving down bulk wine prices, which, as WineNews will examine in greater detail later, are showing negative trends in many areas, including prestigious ones.
In any case, among the latest developments, there is the request submitted by Consorzio Toscana Igtm to the Tuscany Regional Government to reduce yields by 20% from the levels allowed under the production regulations: from 170 to 136 quintals per hectare for white Toscana IGT wines, and from 160 to 128 quintals per hectare for red Toscana IGT wines. This follows a path already taken by several other Tuscan consortia. One example is Brunello di Montalcino Consortium, which has long since decided to reduce the 2026 yield limit from 80 to 70 quintals per hectare (excluding the first hectare). Likewise, Chianti Consortium has confirmed, as it did in 2025, its request for a 20% reduction in yields across all wine categories, pending regional approval. Chianti Classico Consortium has submitted a similar request, again mirroring last vintage approach, seeking a reduction of 10 quintals per hectare, from 75 to 65, or alternatively allowing producers to maintain grape yields while declassifying an equivalent quantity of wine from the previous three vintages. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Grand Duchy, no yield reductions are currently planned for Vino Nobile di Montepulciano or Bolgheri.
In Veneto, among other measures, Consorzio della Valpolicella had already approved, starting in 2025 and for a three-year period, a reduction in yields from 120 to 100 quintals of grapes per hectare, with 20 quintals allocated to stock. Pinot Grigio delle Venezie DOC, Italy largest white wine denomination (27,000 hectares across Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, and South Tyrol), has approved a reduction for the 2026 harvest to 160 quintals per hectare, of which 30 quintals will be placed in administrative stock. Additionally, Consorzio del Soave has introduced new regulations that, beginning with the 2026 harvest and continuing for the next three vintages, “provide for each producer a 50% reduction in the vineyard area potentially eligible for DOC claims, together with a corresponding reduction in production yields” (namely 135 quintals per hectare for Soave and 125 for Soave Classico, ed).
In Piedmont, Consorzio del Barolo Barbaresco Alba Langhe e Dogliani has approved a 10% yield reduction (to 90 quintals per hectare) for Langhe Nebbiolo DOC and Barbera d’Alba DOC, while no yield reductions are currently planned for Nebbiolo destined for Barolo and Barbaresco. Meanwhile, Barbera d’Asti and Monferrato Wines Consortium has decided to reduce the yield for Barbera d’Asti from 90 to 85 quintals per hectare and lower the allowable vineyard surplus from 18 to 5 quintals. As a result, each hectare of Barbera vineyards will effectively be allowed to produce a maximum of 90 quintals, rather than the 118 quintals permitted under the production regulations.
This is, of course, only a partial and temporary picture, but it illustrates the extent to which the Italian wine sector is implementing every available tool to rebalance supply and demand and protect product values and, consequently, vineyard land values during what has become a prolonged phase of significant complexity.