The 2021 harvest is starting with 42 million hectoliters in stock – the same as 2020

The first bunches of grapes have just been harvested in Sicily, and the farmers association, Coldiretti’s first production estimates are fluctuating between 44 and 47 million hectoliters (5 to10% less compared to 2020). The 2021 harvest in Italy has started from a different situation than 2020 in the vineyard, but actually quite similar in the wine cellar, due to wine stocks held. On July 31, 2021, there were 42 million hectoliters in Italian wineries, numbers in line with those of July 29, 2020, in addition to 3.1 million hectoliters of musts (-12.9% compared to a year ago ) and 81.603 hectoliters of new wine still in fermentation (+131.4% compared to the same period in 2020). These data come from the “Cantina Italia” report of the Ministry of Agriculture, which emphasizes that the Veneto Region is, as usual, the “richest” region in the wine cellar, counting 9.7 million hectoliters, followed by Tuscany at 5.1, Emilia Romagna at 4.9 and Apulia and Piedmont at 3.9 million hectoliters each. The wine held in stock is 51.3% PDO, 26.8% PGI, 20.5 % table wine, and 1.4% varietal wines. Plus, while the concentration of denominations is confirmed (the first 20 PDOs and PGIs contributing 55.7% of total stocks), distances in “ranking” stocks are narrowing. Prosecco DOC is in the lead, counting 2.4 million hectoliters (7.4% of the total denomination), TGI Apulia follows at 1.6 (5%), ahead of TGI Toscana, at 1.4 million hectoliters (4.3%).