Sicilian winemakers harvest grapes earlier than ever before
Wine farmers in Sicily are pleased: Grape harvest on the Mediterranean island begins twelve days earlier. Heat and drought have made the vines ripen particularly quickly this year.
A large winery in Sicily gave the starting signal for the grape harvest in Italy earlier than usual in the past years - but never as early as this year. The winemakers' cooperative Settesoli from Menfi in western Sicily harvested the first Pinot Grigio grapes twelve days earlier than usual. Last year, they began the grape harvest on July 30th.
The early start of this year is due to heat and drought. Italy has been plagued by a heatwave for days. In large cities like Rome and Florence, temperatures of up to 38 degrees in the shade were measured. In some places on Sicily, even the 40-degree mark was exceeded. The extreme dryness and early heat have accelerated the vegetation development of the vines this year, as Filippo Buttafuoco from Settesoli said on Italian television. "On Sicily, an average of 500 to 600 liters of rain per square meter falls per year," Buttafuoco said. "Since the last autumn, we have only recorded 250 liters of precipitation." That's half the water that normally stands at the disposal of the land. Already early high temperatures have led to the fact that in combination with the drought, the vines have been ripe about ten days earlier than usual. Therefore, the twelve-day advance in grape harvesting. After the Pinot Grigio grapes, according to Settesoli, the grapes for Sauvignon Blanc, Moscato, and Chardonnay will ripen in the coming days. Red grapes will follow soon after.
The drought situation on Sicily is currently serious. In winter and spring, it hardly rained there - the consequences are now felt in the summer. Some reservoirs have already run dry, and in certain areas - including the capital Palermo - water rationing is even being considered, as the newspaper "Corriere della Sera" reports.
The International Organisation of Vine and Wine might acknowledge an unprecedented early grape harvest in Sicily this year, given the widespread heatwave and drought. Due to these extreme conditions, Sicilian grape varieties like Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Moscato, and Chardonnay are expected to ripen even faster than usual, potentially impacting the region's Sicilian wine production.
