The 2024 Pinot Grigio harvest has begun in Northeast Italy, with the price of grapes announced to be slightly higher. Some have already started immediately after August 15, some are preparing to harvest the first bunches in these hours and others instead plan to start next week: on the other hand, in an area as vast as that of the Doc Delle Venezie, the largest at a national level with 27 thousand hectares of vineyards – today the largest model of interregional integration that includes the Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia regions and the autonomous province of Trento in a single denomination of origin – the seasonal trends, the volumes, as well as the harvest period cannot be homogeneous.
“In general, compared to last year, this production season opens in a positive way, especially in terms of quality,” underlines Stefano Sequino, director of the Consorzio di tutela Doc Delle Venezie. “With respect to volumes, in some territories we expect a lower production but in the entire area we find satisfaction with the quality level of the Pinot Grigio grapes achieved, a result obtained thanks to the attention and great work done in the vineyard, which has returned healthy grapes and optimal chemical-physical parameters”.
What 2024 Harvest to Expect for Pinot Grigio in Northeast Italy
The common thread that unites the expectations for the 2024 harvest in the three administrative territories of the Doc Delle Venezie is, as confirmed by the presidents of Assoenologi del Triveneto, the quality.
Although the season began with some concerns related to the abundant spring rains that, with different frequency and intensity between the various wine-growing areas, affected some phenological phases of the vine, the situation recorded in recent weeks, on average characterized by a sharp increase in temperatures, has changed the scenario. At present, despite the complex management of the vineyard, the weather trend has not affected the health and quality of the grapes and in any case there has been no damage from hail or particularly critical phytosanitary situations.
Matteo Lovo, president of Assoenologi Friuli-Venezia Giulia, confirms a 2024 harvest that is certainly better than the 2023 production season, “which allows us to bring +15% to the cellar compared to last year, which, we recall, was not very positive, with peaks of decrease in terms of quantity even equal to -30%. Overall, compared to historical harvest averages, in Friuli-Venezia Giulia we should settle around -10%, a drop also due in part to a limited pressure of Peronospora of the vine”.
As for the start of the 2024 harvest, Matteo Lovo continues, “work is expected to start around the end of this week, in the plain areas also at the beginning of next week, to then conclude in about ten days. A year that is not easy in terms of technical and phytosanitary management, but which in the most important moments has developed in a positive way and has given satisfaction to the producers of Pinot Grigio for the high quality of the fruit”.
The 2024 harvest was instead anticipated for the variety grown in Western Veneto, as Alberto Marchisio, president of Assoenologi Veneto Occidentale, explains:
“The Pinot Grigio harvest began this week and is expected to end around mid-September for the areas at higher altitudes; the grapes are perfect, healthy and with optimal parameters, good acidity and presence of malic acid, also to be highlighted is the uniformity of ripening that gives a beautiful color to the skin; we can consider ourselves very lucky with respect to the quality, which I would define as excellent, while in terms of quantity we are on average in line with the volumes of recent years. As for the trend of the year, despite the abundant rains at the beginning of the season we still managed to intervene to ensure good defense of the vineyard”.
The Pinot Grigio harvest is scheduled to begin next week in Eastern Veneto. Michele Zanardo, president of Assoenologi Veneto Orientale, comments on the seasonal trend:
“We had a fairly rainy spring that slightly slowed down the first vegetative phases, but starting in June the milder temperatures allowed for an excellent recovery. We can say that the quality of the grapes is excellent and that the quantity is good, in line with the average production of past years”.
The situation is still different in Trentino, where the 2024 harvest will not begin before the end of the month or the beginning of September, even delaying the harvest by a few days compared to 2023.
“The phytosanitary state of the grapes is good”, comments Goffredo Pasolli, president of Assoenologi Trentino. “In Trentino, managing Pinot Grigio has been challenging, we have had a lot of rain – 1,500 mm of water fallen compared to the historical average of 1,200 mm – but we have still managed to intervene and contain the onset of pathogens. In general terms – adds Pasolli – the trend has been good, there have been no major meteorological phenomena, such as hailstorms or spring frosts, and there are excellent conditions. Furthermore – concludes the winemaker – the drop in temperatures in recent days, after the intense heat of the first half of August, the good day/night temperature variations that we are recording a few days before the harvest have been decisive with respect to the quality of the grapes”.
Doc Delle Venezie: Increase in the price of grapes
The start of the 2024 harvest is also an opportunity to take stock of the progress and positioning of the Denomination.
In terms of value, the first quotations of Pinot Grigio Doc Delle Venezie grapes confirm a slight increase in prices: the 2024 harvest in fact starts with a price of grapes equal to 0.53 – 0.58 euros/kg, compared to 0.50 – 0.55 euros/kg recorded in the same period of the previous year.
“This is an increase in value that occurs among other things after the increase in the free production quota, equal to 140 quintals/hectare, +10 quintals/hectare compared to the 2023 production season”, explains Albino Armani, president of the Consorzio di tutela Doc Delle Venezie. “A result therefore in contrast to the average situation of the national wine sector, particularly important considering a complex, but not casual, economic moment of the national and global market: it is a growth path of the Denomination, just begun, linked to the application of the supply management measures approved by our Board of Directors, which contribute to maintaining a condition of market stability and a quality/price ratio that, combined with the guarantees provided by the State mark applied to 230 million bottles produced each year, is unparalleled”.
“In such a path – concludes Armani – the objective is to be able to work so that all categories of the supply chain can find recognition and adequate margins, a necessary condition to carry on their business and work with high quality standards”.
