The harvest begins in these days in some areas of the denomination. Good forecasts, thanks also to the weather of recent weeks

Franciacorta is the first of the great territories of Italian wine to kick off the 2023 harvest: the grape harvest begins today, under the best auspices, in some areas of the denomination-symbol of the Classic Method sparkling wine of our country. In particular, the first bunches of Pinot Noir are harvested, in the area at the foot of the Parco della Santissima in Gussago. The harvest of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc and Erbamat will be fully operational in the coming weeks, close to Ferragosto, in the different areas of the denomination. The 2023 vintage differed considerably from that of 2022 with regard to the meteorological aspect: the rains were abundant if compared to the hot and dry climate of last year, the vineyards have a good production load.

"After a beginning of the year characterized by very limited rains and above-average temperatures that led to an advance of the vegetative development of the vine, with April there was a decisive change of course, with a lowering of temperatures and an increase in rainfall that continued even in the months of May and June - underlines the president of the Franciacorta Consortium, Silvano Brescianini - the overall volume of precipitation was not exceptional, but it is important to note that May was characterized by the high number of rainy days, 19 against a historical average of 9 days. Together with 2013, 2023 was the year with the highest number of rainy days in May compared to the average of the last 25 years.

Due to this particular situation, the pressure of downy mildew was very high and the winemakers were engaged in careful monitoring of the health condition of the vineyards. "Fortunately, the damage was contained and there were no extreme events that compromised production - continues Brescianini - with the storms at the end of July the temperatures, which, in the previous days, had reached particularly high values, dropped and also the water availability was more than good".
It should also be noted that the Lombardy Region has approved the request for activation of the harvest reserve for 2023, as happens in climate-favorable years. This translates into the faculty, where conditions permit, to allocate the wine obtained in addition to the claimable ceiling of 65 hl per hectare, to become Franciacorta harvest reserve up to a maximum of 13 hl per hectare. The same specification also regulates the management of the harvest reserve. In particular, the harvest reserve wine is blocked in bulk and can not be processed for a minimum of 12 months from taking charge on the cellar registers, it is not entitled to the thousandth and the marketing can take place even before being unlocked, but after reclassification to Doc "Curtefranca" or Igt "Sebino".

Franciacorta comes from a year marked by important goals and with positive data: in 2022 over 20 million bottles were sold and, although the domestic market still represents over 88% of sales, exports mark a growth rate of 11.5%, with Switzerland, Japan, the United States, Germany and Belgium among the main outlet markets.

The first half of the year also recorded flattering results: taking into account that the sales figures for the first quarter of 2022 were strongly growing compared to 2021, the period January-June 2023 shows positive growth rates when compared with 2021, 2020 and 2019, in the pre-pandemic period (in particular, on 2019, the first half of 2023 marks a + 17.6% in volumes).

Source: WineNews.it