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Soave anticipates reduced but high quality vintage

Published:  05 September, 2019

Soave Consorzio has announed it is expecting to produce a reduced but “pristine harvest of classically balanced top quality wines” on the back of 2019’s long moderate growing season.

After the heterogenous seasons of 2017 and 2018, which were characterized by ongoing climatic extremes, winegrowers in Soave welcomed something of a “return to normal” in 2019, said the Consorzio, with vines currently showing a "balanced yield, with bunches of well-spaced and healthy grapes”.

May, it said, was notably cool, with relatively high rainfall, and June was the warmest and driest for 20 years, but moderate rains and typical temperatures in July and August maintained soil water reserves even in the highest, steepest zones.

Critically, 2019 did not experience the drought and water stresses of recent vintages, but a hailstorm in May resulted in reduced yields from the 200ha in the Classico zone, it added.

The emerging high quality of the 2019 vintage comes at a time of transformation within Soave, with the season coinciding with the adoption of the Soave DOC Production Plan – an initiative that includes a requirement each year for growers to notify the authorities, well in advance of the harvest, of the vineyards from which they will be producing Soave DOC.

“We are delighted with the rapid impact of the new Production Plan. We proved that we can achieve that ideal balance of high quality, sustainable prices and availability. This benefits all parties, from the thousands of people who produce our Soave, to the consumers across the world who drink it,” said Sandro Gini, president of the Soave Consorzio.

In another first for the 2019 vintage, Soave’s 33 newly protected and delimited Additional Geographical Units (AGUs) can now be used on the label.

While these single-vineyard names have been used by many producers for some years, 2019 is the first vintage in which they have official, protected status.

The Soave harvest is expected to begin on September 20, and to continue through to mid-October, when the highest vineyards on the hills will be picked.




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