Confagricoltura: 2019 harvest estimates show -6% compared to 2018, “the grape quality is excellent”

The Coldiretti estimates of the 2019 vintage, which hover around 47-49 million euros, immediately follow those of Confagricoltura, detailed region by region, in this first part of August when the first bunches of grapes will be harvested, like the early varieties of Pinot Grigio in Sicily, while the bulk of the harvest is still to come. Now, however, Confagricoltura is forecasting a 6% drop compared to 2018, which, “following the particularly abundant 2018 harvest, the current decrease in production is not a negative aspect”, pointed out the association of agricultural enterprises.

According to the survey conducted by the Confagricoltura Research Center on samples of wineries in all of the Italian regions, lower quantities are expected almost everywhere, and especially in Friuli Venezia Giulia (-20%), Umbria (-13%), Veneto and Campania (-12%) and in Trentino Alto Adige
(-11%), as well as in Valle d’Aosta (-8%), Piedmont (-7.7%), Lombardy (-3.5 %), Emilia Romagna (-5.5%), Liguria (-8%), Marche (-10%), Abruzzi (-8%), Sicily (-6%) and Sardinia (5.5%). Wine production in Tuscany and Basilicata is substantially stable compared to 2018, while Lazio (+ 16%), Molise (+ 10%) and Calabria (+ 9%) are going against the trend, and up to date, even Apulia has a positive sign, (+ 2.9%).

These estimates, of course, will depend largely on the months of August (Confagricoltura considers things will be getting down to business around August 20) and September. Today, however, thanks to the cold and rainy spring and a hot and dry early summer, the quality of the grapes is excellent heralding a potentially excellent wine production”.
Overall, the picture is positive, therefore, for the “wine sector, which is extremely important for the agricultural economy and the food industry in Italy. There are 300.000 wine companies with vineyards”, Confagricoltura underlined, “covering an area of 652.000 hectares planted with wine grapes, of which 50.000 include wine-making cellars, a turnover of around 10 billion euros and an export value of 6.2 billion in 2018”.

This record is probably destined to grow, since (as the recent WineNews analysis on Istat data highlighted, ed.), “in the first quarter of 2019 total exports of wines and sparkling wines”, said Confagricoltura, “amounted to 1.96 billion euros, which is up 5.2% compared to 2018. The most important growth rate comes from sparkling wines, at + 8.2%, but exports of still wines in bottles also increased +6%”.