News

Etna DOC harvests a smaller but ‘excellent’ crop

24 October 2023 By Patrick Schmitt

After a difficult year for wine growers on Sicily’s active volcano, director of Etna DOC, Maurizio Lunetta has confirmed that harvest volumes will be down, but grape quality is “excellent”.

As much as 60% of Etna DOC’s 1,300 hectares under vine are farmed organically

In a missive sent exclusively to the drinks business yesterday, the head of the consorzio noted that the average drop in yields across the appellation would be 25%, with higher declines on the volcano’s northern slopes, and “no significant losses on the eastern and southern slopes.”

He wrote, “The harvest on Etna is now in full swing and will end in early November. From the first information gathered among producers, we can foresee a vintage of excellent quality with a drop in quantity that is confirmed to be an average of 25%, but distributed unevenly over the four slopes (see map, bottom).”

Continuing, he recorded, “The meteorological trend on all four slopes was fairly regular until the month of June when, as was the case more or less all over Italy, we recorded abundant rainfall, which led to difficulties in controlling downy mildew, a disease that is not very common in our latitudes.”

He added, “This was followed by the rise in temperatures recorded at the end of July and in the first few days of August, which resulted in lower yields from the vines.”

Concluding, he noted, “Towards the beginning of November, with the harvesting of the grapes at the highest altitudes of the denomination, the harvest will end and we will be able to have a more precise picture of this difficult year, yes, but not a terrible one.”

As previously reported by db, the impact of downy mildew on harvest volumes in Sicily, and indeed across Italy, was variable, with areas with good drainage and air circulation seeing less damage from the fungal attack, also known as Peronospora.

But whether growers managed to bring in an average-sized crop, or a much-reduced one, db Italy correspondent Filippo Bartolotta said that a warm, dry late-summer and early-autumn has ensured that the grape quality is good.

As much as 60% of Etna DOC’s 1,300 hectares under vine are farmed organically, with production amounting to a little over 5.8m bottles from last year’s harvest.