ITALY’S TOP WINE PRODUCERS HAVE GREAT EXPECTATIONS FOR THE 2008 GRAPE HARVEST. EXPERTS AND ENOLOGISTS ALL AGREE THERE WILL BE A RETURN TO AN “OLD STYLE” HARVEST TIME (STARTING IN MID SEPTEMBER) AND ELEGANT AND BALANCED WINES

There seems to be a general optimism for Italy’s 2008 grape harvest. And according to the many top names in Italian winemaking who were interviewed by www.winenews.it, this year could even be similar to that of 2004: both for the harvest time, decidedly “old style” (with the majority of grapes being picked during the second half of September and the beginning of October), and for the characteristics of the wines, potentially very elegant and aromatic. The harvest yields, however, will not be similar at all to 2004 but only slightly higher than last year’s very scarce harvest total.
Apart from the disputes over quantity (it is one thing to compare it to the very scarce harvest of 2007, and it is another to compare it to the average over the past five years), the 2008 harvest represents a particularly important event for the Italian wine world after the various dark moments that have recently clouded Italy’s wine production system, as well as within the context of a market situation that does not show encouraging signs.
Now archived, the 2007 harvest was marked by an extremely early start and a very scarce quantity (even if, as we will see, it does not seem that the 2008 harvest will be very abundant either due to a difficult fruit set in the spring and frequent hail storms even in August), the 2008 harvest could be similar to that of 2004, starting with the aromatic potential for the grapes as well as a concentration that is not extreme.
The 2008 harvest, however, has required a lot of effort by winemakers all over Italy. The difficult weather conditions, especially in spring, have been trying for producers especially in regards to timing adequate treatments and this could further amplify the difference between wines produced by professionals and those produced by more improvisational winemakers.