Recently, Settesoli winery in Sicilia, Italy, has sporadically picked the first grapes of the year, mainly Moscato and Pinot Grigio. Immediately after, Franciacorta, a traditional sparkling wine region in northern Italy, officially opened its 2022 harvest season, and the Consorzio Franciacorta, led by Silvano Brescianini, announced on August 1: "The Fuccida region officially began harvesting today. Harvesting began in some areas over the weekend, and the rest of the region will also begin harvesting Chardonnay, Pinot Nero and Pinot Bianco grapes today. ”
Image source: franciacorta.wine
Flavio Serina, Head of Research and Development at the Association of Fouchida Regions, said: "2022 was a unique year, starting with ideal climatic conditions, good production loads and health, but then the weather began to get hot and dry, especially in June and July, when the high temperatures continued to test the grape growers. However, rains in the last week of July eased the water shortage and created the conditions for an early harvest, which was an early harvest but very interesting. ”
Image source: franciacorta.wine
The germination time of this year is consistent with that of recent years, with Chardonnay in the earlier ripening areas starting to germinate around the end of March, while in the later regions about the first ten days of April, Pinot Noir sprouted in much the same way. The flowering period is relatively early. In addition, two hail strikes occurred in late May and early June, severely damaging the local area and unaffected overall production in the production area. At the same time, the condition of early ripening did not cause further fruit health problems, and in fact the health of the fruit was very good. From an meteorological point of view, the year was characterized by very low rainfall, averaging 189 mm in the first six months of 2022, less than half the average rainfall of the past five years (418 mm). In addition, the average temperature in July was significantly higher than the average for the past four years.
Vineyards in the Fuccida appellation (Image: franciacorta.wine)
Continued drought and high temperatures have caused some water stress to some vineyards with loose soils or young tree age, but the vineyards as a whole have responded well to this particular situation, and last week's rains have undoubtedly excited brewers in the central region of Fuccida. Sivano Brecciani concludes: "Sales in the Fuccida region exceeded 20 million bottles for the first time in 2021, and in the first half of 2022 it is expected to increase by 14.3% compared to the same period last year. Unfortunately, the wines on the market this year came from a vintage that was not good enough, and some wineries were forced to postpone orders due to insufficient production. Therefore, we need a bumper harvest year this year and hopefully the weather in the coming weeks will be favorable. ”