Harvest 2021 has now been completed for weeks all over Italy, the grapes have
finally become wine, the producers are drawing conclusions about the harvest and
formulate the first impressions about the new wine. In fact, at this moment,
thanks to the certainty of what has been brought to the winery – therefore with
reliable and concrete information – the producers have now very clear ideas
about the wines they are making with the grapes harvested in the past weeks. The
forecasts released last summer for harvest 2021 – which anticipated a good
vintage, with a decrease in quantity but of high quality – seem to be confirmed
by the producers according to the evaluation of what they brought to the winery.
Everywhere in Italy, in general terms, there is a decrease in the quantity of
grapes harvested, however everyone agrees on the quality, considered very good,
probably among the best ones in recent years.
Italian producers seem to all agree that what they have harvested from their
vineyards is of high quality, a condition that has been reported in every region
of Italy. The consequence – all too obvious – is to also have high quality
wines, assuming no wine making disgrace is going to happen in the winery.
It must in fact be said making great wines from grapes of very high quality is
relatively simple, making great wines from mediocre grapes is always the result
of high enological skills and expertise. Transforming the good into something
excellent is obviously a result that can be obtained without any effort and with
a minimum of enological diligence, while you need to work very hard in order
to obtain a low quality wine from the same grapes. An operation which,
unfortunately, is not so unusual as it happens quite often to have in the glass
– and, therefore, to taste – wines from vintages considered excellent and
affected by quite embarrassing faults. In this case, all too obvious, the fault
is not the grape, much less the vineyard, the territory or the climate, indeed it
is the obvious result of the bad job done by the producer.
Vintage 2021 did not start – many will remember this – with the best of
wishes. From a meteorological point of view, in fact, in the last spring there
had happened decidedly disastrous events which suggested an uncertain course of
the season. In fact, in April, many vineyards in Italy were damaged by dire
frosts, right in the crucial moment in which the vine began to produce new
shoots. A decidedly negative event that jeopardized the good hopes for harvest
2021, as the frost inevitably and literally burned the young and new
shoots. Those who survived had to face the infernal temperatures of the
summer as well as the scarcity of rains, thus complicating the vegetative cycle
of the vines, certainly of the younger ones and having not very developed root
systems. The older vines, with more developed root systems in the depths of the
soil, have partially benefited from the underground water reserves.
In short, at the end of August, the producers showed some concern for the fate of
the harvest which, shortly afterwards, would begin with the harvesting of the
bunches. Then came September and, fortunately, the situation changed and, with
it, the forecasts as well. The rains of September have in fact contributed in a
decisive way to the positive trend of the conclusion of the ripening of the
grapes, finally capable of quenching their thirst. Of course, these rains
did not remedy the damage caused by the April frosts, but they certainly were
decisive for the ripening of the bunches born from the surviving shoots. And it
was thanks to these rains that today we can talk about a high quality harvest,
despite the drop in quantity. If we consider the estimates that had been made
during the summer, in which good quality and a significant decrease in terms of
quantity were expected, we can only be happy that those forecasts have been
proven wrong, and now turned out to be positive from the real evaluation of what
was brought to the winery.
Everywhere in Italy there is the satisfaction of producers for the wines they
have produced with the grapes of this vintage; many do not hesitate to define
2021 as one of the best in recent years. The grapes harvested in the vineyards of
Italy – from north to south – were sound and perfect for the harvest, that is,
in the best condition possible to obtain high quality wines. The excellent
premises of the vineyard were then transformed into certainties when the grapes
arrived in the winery. The analysis of the must has in fact made it possible to
find out the excellent balance between acidity and sugar content, a highly
positive premise for obtaining equally balanced wines. Apparently – and, at this
point, with absolute certainty – the wines of the 2021 vintage, after having run
the risk of a quite severe and nefarious weather trends, will give us wonderful
satisfactions in the glasses. News, there is no doubt, which gives us great
pleasure, imagining – not least – the relief of the producers who, having
positively passed the uncertainty of the summer conditions, they can now be
assured and face with optimism the end of the enological procedures that will
terminate with bottling.
Of course, this is good news we welcome with enthusiasm while looking forward to
having 2021 wines in the glasses, the supreme and final condition for assessing
the real enological quality. If we consider the difficulties the world of wine
has suffered as a result of the pandemic and which also have changed our habits,
including consumption, the high quality forecast of the 2021 vintage represents,
not least, a new starting point for the Italian wine. The producers' forecast for
the 2021 vintage is largely optimistic for each and every style of wine. From
whites to reds, from sparkling to dessert wines, the producers all agree in
defining 2021 as a vintage to remember. Excellent wines, therefore, even if
in smaller quantities, under the reassuring wisdom of the famous saying
little but good. Certainly a relative and minor satisfaction, however
extremely positive, if we consider the pessimistic premises of last summer
regarding the 2021 vintage.
The optimistic and present forecast for 2021 vintage are, not least, an economic
advantage as better quality could ensure higher profits. Although this is a risky
choice – we must in fact remember the bad sales results of 2020 in addition to
the general economic availability of consumers – excessively increasing prices
would be counterproductive. In any case, this good news anticipates the
satisfaction of being able to pour the wines of the 2021 vintage into the
glasses, something that will occur in the first months of next year, in regard
for ready-to-drink white and red wines, towards the end of summer for those
destined to tell their quality in the years to come. For long aged reds and
classic method sparkling wines, on the other hand, we will at least have to wait
until 2023. In any case, we will have more than one good, very good reason to
make a toast to the 2021 vintage. With the hope it can represent – with its
wines – the beginning of a new and beautiful future for everyone.
Antonello Biancalana
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