Harvest changes, wineries focus on whites also for red grapes

In the south, on the other hand, the great heat and above all the drought, on the one hand, have preserved the grapes from parasite attacks, but on the other hand, have not favoured the growth of the bunches and berries. These conditions will have a negative impact on grape yields in wine and therefore on the volumes produced. In Sicily and Apulia, there has been no rain for months and, due to the reduced grape yield, a drop in the five-year average harvest is expected, ranging from minus 10% in Sicily to an estimated minus 30% in Apulia.

But one of the main novelties of the 2024 wine year is the rethinking underway among Italian wineries on the types of wine to be produced. A rethinking dictated by the trends that are emerging in consumption both nationally and internationally.

Structured red wines in particular are suffering on the market, while white, rosé and sparkling wines are doing much better. "In just under ten years," commented the President of the Italian Wine Union, Lamberto Frescobaldi, "sparkling wine production in Italy has gone from a share of 8% to 14% of the total. Today, bubbles are produced in every region of Italy. It is no coincidence that sparkling wines account for one third of Italian sales in the United States. Just as it is no coincidence that abroad for young and very young people Italy is perceived as a producer of white wines and sparkling wines and no longer of red wines as in the past'.

"The drop in demand for red wines is very bad news for Abruzzo," commented the President of the Consorzio Vini d'Abruzzo, Alessandro Nicodemi, "since 80% of our production is Montepulciano. That is why we are repositioning part of our production towards Cerasuolo rosé, towards Abruzzo Doc Rosato and Igt Abruzzo Rosato, which are all growing types,' he said.

"In various parts of the country, there is a growing tendency for producers to vinify red grapes as white wine,' explains Attilio Scienza, professor of viticulture and oenology at the University of Milan. 'Nothing new, just avoid contact of the musts with the skins that give them colour. Pinot Noir is a red grape variety that has always been used for sparkling wines. Beware, however, that not all cultivars are suitable. Pinot Noir is, but Cabernet and Merlot are not. Grapes with a lot of tannins and structure have a hard time being treated 'in white'. It is very important to have good acidity and low pH, because acidity is the characteristic that gives freshness to white wines. For example, Barbera is proving to be a perfect variety to produce a sparkling wine base. Many productions from the Adriatic ridge, from Sangiovese di Romagna to Bombino Nero and Primitivo in Apulia, are being used to produce sparkling bases or sparkling wines to ensure that these are in demand in the market, in mixology in cocktails or aperitifs. And so products that until recently struggled to find a market find themselves competing with Prosecco in the Spritz served on the beaches of the Adriatic. A conversion that also has the undoubted advantage of being simpler and quicker than the varietal restructuring of the vineyard, which would take at least a few years'.

Vinification 'in white' requires the separation of the must from the solid parts (skins and seeds) by pressing. The grapes are pressed in the press by means of soft pressure in order to avoid breaking the skin cells that contain the colouring matter. Production yields are 40-50% lower than if this separation is not carried out. The must obtained is not completely white and is treated with bentonite and charcoal, which absorb the residual colour, leading to a white must.

In rosé wine, the yield is higher and the pressed grapes are left (usually overnight) in contact with the skins, depending on the colour to be obtained, from onion skin pink to candy pink.

In red wines, on the other hand, maceration, i.e. the contact of the must with the skins, lasts from one week to ten days depending on the type of wine to be obtained, whether more or less structured and more or less dense in colour.