In 2023, Italian wine production will be limited to between 38 and 40 million hectoliters. This is what emerges from the revision of the estimates announced in September by the Assoenologi Observatory, Ismea and Italian Wine Union (UIV), which recorded a further lightening compared to the values of the 2022 harvest. In lieu of the -12 percent contraction budgeted for September, the contraction is anticipated to range between -20 and 24 percent, net of any products upstream of the wine (such as musts, new wines in fermentation, etc.) acquired from other EU countries. The drop in production, which affects almost the entire country, was caused primarily by harvest reductions in the main production regions of the north, Veneto (-10%) and Piedmont (-17%), but also sees significantly worsening estimates for the big wine companies in the other Italian macro-areas: Tuscany (-30%), Puglia (-30%), Abruzzo (-60%), and Sicily (-45%). More specifically, the average reduction was approximately -9.5% in the northern region, -29.5% in the central region, and -38.2% in the southern region. The full statistics will be provided by Masaf's competent authorities next year. According to the Assoenologi Observatory, Ismea, and Uiv, the further drop is due, first and primarily, to a September summer that lasted the entire month, with sunlight and maximum temperatures sometimes exceeding 30 degrees. Heat and a lack of rain, on the one hand, have undoubtedly improved grape quality, but on the other, they have resulted in a lightness of the fruits, resulting in a loss in harvest volume.
|