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Hundred-day Sicily harvest promises “excellent vintage”

Published:  04 November, 2022

Sicily’s hundred-day harvest concluded at the end of October on Mount Etna following months of “favourable” weather contributing to healthy grapes and ultimately an “excellent vintage”.

The entire growing cycle is said to have benefitted from good weather, which began with a rainy autumn, followed by a winter with less rainfall and a cold spring. The high temperatures and dryness of the Sicilian summer inhibited the spread of vine diseases and affected, only in some areas, the drop in production by about 5-10%.

"Talking about grape harvest in Sicily is very complicated because the Island has different climatic conditions and very different varieties,” said oenologist Emiliano Falsini.

“We will expect great results for Frappato and Grillo of the southern area of Noto and Vittoria as well as in the Caltanissetta area for Grillo and Nero D'Avola, which will be fresh, complex and structured.  

“Nero D'Avola and white varieties are expected to be great in Lipari, one of the Eolian islands.

“On Etna, it will be an excellent vintage, because the grapes are very healthy and in perfect balance,” Falsini concluded.

In Butera, in the province of Caltanissetta, in the heart of the island, "the vintage is of high quality with balanced whites and reds that will give life to an interesting complexity,” according to Antonio Paolo Froio, director of Tenuta Principi di Butera.

The quality of the grapes for this 2022 vintage is also favourable according to Castellucci Miano winery, which practices mountain viticulture in Valledolmo, between 700 and 1050 meters.

"Healthy and excellent grapes with a 5% increase on quantity for all the varieties," said Marco Parisi, winemaker at Feudi del Pisciotto, in Val di Noto.

On the northern slope of  Etna, in Castiglione di Sicilia, Francesco Cambria from Cottanera winery and Nicola Gumina, winemaker at Palmento Costanzo, both reported a "great quantity and quality of grapes, which were perfectly healthy and perfectly ripe with very rich and elegant flavours and aroma."

Reflecting on the harvest Laurent de la Gatinais, president of Assovini Sicilia said, "Climate change does not seem to affect the excellent quality of Sicilian grapes.

“Sicily demonstrates, once again, the extraordinary ability to manage the consequences of climate change, thanks to the variety of its wine heritage, which is mostly native with great biodiversity, and to the extraordinary microclimates in the different areas."



 

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