HARVEST 2020 IN PIEDMONT FIRST ESTIMATES CONFAGRICOLTURA

From 22 August the grapes for the Alta Langa docg are harvested, then it will be the turn of moscato, brachetto and dolcetto. It will close with the Nebbioli from Upper Piedmont and Caluso Passito.

The next month will be crucial for the outcome of the harvest. "Confagricoltura Piemonte - declares the regional director of the organization Ercole Zuccaro - with a network of 40 technicians in the area is following the evolution of the vintage which for the moment is very good, with peaks of excellence: the quantity of grapes reaching maturity it is on average, comparable to 2018, but increasing by about 10% over the 2019 campaign, decidedly poor from a production point of view. The quality of the grapes is good and the gradations should be increasing compared to those of last year " . Harvest dates "The next four weeks - affirms Alessandro Bottallo, wine expert of Confagricoltura of Alba - will be essential to understand how the great reds of Piedmont will present themselves. Starting from the second decade of August - explains Bottallo - we will intensify the grape harvest in the vineyards, follow the ripening curves and advise the winegrowers the best time to start the detachment of the bunches, when the acid-sugar balance has reached its optimal point. Although we are very cautious in our forecasts, we can express a moderately optimistic evaluation. The climatic trend will accompany us the 2020 harvest can reserve us great satisfactions ". The first grapes to be harvested - explain the Confagricoltura technicians - will be pinot noir and chardonnay for the production of sparkling wine with a controlled and guaranteed designation of origin Alta Langa: the harvest will start around 22 - 23 August, in the vineyards with the best exhibitions. By the end of the month, the harvesting of Moscato grapes is expected to start for the production of Moscato d'Asti and Asti with a controlled and guaranteed designation of origin. In the Acquese and Asti areas, also due to some hailstorms, the production of Muscat grapes is slightly lower than last year, while in the province of Cuneo the harvest is at a satisfactory level. Immediately after the Moscato it will be the turn of the Brachetto grapes for the production of Acqui docg. The harvest of the Dolcetto grapes should begin around 10 September, weather permitting: if the night temperatures drop significantly towards the end of the August month, the harvest could be brought forward by a few days, to avoid drop problems. The Dolcetto vine, in fact, with a medium-early ripening, when the phase of completion of the bunch occurs very quickly, accompanied by important thermal excursions, is subject to a phenomenon of falling of the berries; for this reason, the winegrowers may decide to bring the bunches off by a few days. Around mid-September, or more likely at the beginning of the third decade of the month, the harvest of the Cortese grapes is expected to start for the production of Cortese dell'Alto Monferrato doc and Gavi docg: the white grape variety is among the most late in maturation and winemakers, for the production of still wines, prefer not to anticipate the harvest too much to allow the grapes to release all their characteristics. In the same period the harvest of the Erbaluce is expected in Canavese: the harvest, for the production of classic method sparkling wine, will probably be brought forward by a week, while the grapes destined for the Passito di Caluso docg will not be removed before mid-October. As for the grapes for the production of red wines, the harvest will begin around 20 September for the Barbera grape, to continue with the Nebbioli, in Roero, Langa and Upper Piedmont, towards the end of the month. The 2020 vintage The vintage - Confagricoltura Piemonte clarifies - began with abundant rains in spring. Following the heat, the sprouting of the vines quickly started: today the vegetative advance, compared to last year, is about a week. The bad spring weather, with high humidity, took farmers a lot to contain downy mildew and powdery mildew. Today the grapes are in good-excellent sanitary conditions and the production of some varieties, which could prove to be abundant, combined with the reduction in volumes marketed due to the unfavorable market for the pandemic, are guiding more than one protection consortium (organisms expressing of producers, winemakers and bottlers) to evaluate the opportunity to activate the "harvest reserve". It is a question, explain the Confagricoltura technicians, of keeping a certain quantity of production aside to make it available if interesting commercial outlets are opened. "One of the concerns that worry winemakers in this period, beyond the climatic conditions, is that of the harvest, as - declares the president of Confagricoltura Piemonte Enrico Allasia - due to the health measures imposed and the scarce presence of non-EU workers on our territory, there could be difficulties in finding manpower for the harvest, especially if the operations were to be concentrated in a few days due to adverse weather conditions ". THE NUMBERS OF PIEDMONTESE WINE

Confagricoltura elaborations on data from the Piedmont Region 10,862 wineries 41,800 hectares of vineyards 20 docg wines and 41 doc wines 2.4 million hectoliters of wine (estimated production year 2020) for a total volume of 320 million bottles 54 cooperative wineries with about 12,000 members 280 industrial companies producing wines and spirits with about 3,300 employees 14 consortia for protection Export of Piedmontese wines: about 195 million bottles (60% of production) for an estimated value of 1 billion euros (22% of the total value of Piedmontese agri-food exports )