Italy's Franciacorta sparkling wine region is experiencing its earliest grape harvest on record, with winemakers rushing to collect fruit up to 10 days ahead of schedule due to scorching temperatures. Weeks of heatwaves, with daytime highs reaching 37 to 38 degrees Celsius (99 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit) and below-average rainfall, have accelerated grape maturation, presenting a significant challenge for producers.
Berlucchi, the oldest producer of Franciacorta, began its harvest on August 2, an industrywide effort to preserve grape quality amid increasingly extreme weather. This early start is about a month sooner than observed three decades ago. "These are delicate, frantic moments, and everything has to work perfectly," said Berlucchi CEO Arturo Ziliani. "We did not expect such an early harvest or such an acceleration in ripening."
The intense midday heat, often exceeding 37 degrees Celsius, necessitates adjustments to the traditional work schedule. Regional labor regulations require a halt between 12:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. However, the heat has made afternoon work untenable, forcing some producers like Berlucchi to begin harvesting as early as 4 a.m. under floodlights to gather grapes before they become overheated. "The grapes are perfectly healthy," stated Ferdinando Dell’aquila, Berlucchi’s technical director and oenologist. "We just have to work as quickly as possible, harvest them and preserve their acidity."
While Franciacorta is experiencing an unusually early harvest, other Italian wine regions are also seeing accelerated timelines. Sicily began its harvest for still wines in late July, with small parts of Tuscany and most other sparkling wine regions also starting early. The situation is particularly complex for makers of Champagne-style sparkling wines, which rely on a precise balance of acidity, pH, and sugar levels. "Early-ripening varieties such as Chardonnay require great care, because a delay of just a couple of days can leave you with grapes unsuitable for sparkling wine. Sugar rises too quickly and acidity falls too quickly," explained Attilio Scienza, a professor emeritus at the University of Milan.
High outdoor temperatures necessitate cooling the grapes before gentle pressing to extract the highest quality free-run juice, a critical step that cannot be rushed. Berlucchi is operating up to 24 presses daily, often late into the night, to manage the accelerated harvest. The company, Franciacorta's largest producer, makes approximately 4 million bottles annually, accounting for about 20% of the region's total production. Around 90% of its bottles are sold domestically, with the remainder exported to markets including Germany, Switzerland, the United States, and Japan.
Experts note that this trend of earlier harvests is not confined to Italy, with France and Germany also reporting similar conditions due to extreme temperatures and weather systems over Europe. "A good oenologist can manage situations like this. I can say with confidence that wine quality is not compromised. It simply requires a different organization of work than in past years," said Paolo Castelletti, secretary general of the Italian Wine Union. Winemakers are adapting by increasing their monitoring of vineyards to identify the optimal harvesting window amid changing climatic conditions.