Harvest 2020 healthy grapes excellent quality quantity lower than forecasts a month ago

Until a month ago the harvest forecasts for Piedmont indicated a significant increase in production compared to last year, particularly poor: in practice, the 2020 vintage should have been "normal" from a quantitative point of view, but the climate of last part of the summer changed the forecast.

" In reality, the data that are flowing to Confagricoltura from the wineries located in the Piedmont area - declares the regional president of the organization Enrico Allasia - refer to a production on the levels of last year as regards the grapes harvested within the first ten days of September. particular muscat, dolcetto, brachetto, grignolino and cortese would not have recorded any increases in production compared to last year ".

The unusually high summer temperatures (especially in the latter part of the season) and the scarcity of rainfall have reduced yields compared to forecasts; the quantities harvested so far are generally below the maximum limit set by the production disciplinary for doc and docg grapes .

" A positive aspect - underlines the director of Confagricoltura Piemonte Ercole Zuccaro - is the good health of the grapes: the vegetation is in order and the wood is ripe, conditions that are a good omen for the next year ".

In this period - explain the Confagricoltura Piemonte technicians who are monitoring the trend of the ripening curves of the grapes - Barbera grapes are being harvested in the Asti , Monferrato and Langhe areas , while in the Canavese hills the grapes are being harvested. erbaluce grapes. These operations are expected to close within the first few days of next week.

To follow, already in early October, the harvests of Nebbiolo grapes, in the Langhe, Roero and Upper Piedmont should begin in the best exposed positions. The quality, as regards the Barbera and Nebbiolo grapes, is excellent, with peaks of excellence. Nebbiolo is in the phase of phenolic ripening and the phytosanitary state is excellent: the rainfall measured in the wine-growing areas and the significant temperature changes of the last few days are favoring the ripening of the grapes for a year that promises to be important.