The data relating to musts and wines in fermentation reflect the current situation in an even more critical way, with a 44% decrease in musts (equal to 5 million hectoliters) and a 58% decrease in VNFs (another 3 million hectoliters missing) . These numbers highlight a significant challenge for the sector.
However, there are some positive points to consider. The wines remain relatively stable, with 3.6 million hectoliters in surplus, representing the remainder of the 2022 harvest. This result is an important indicator of how the harvest went in Italy, with a notable positive balance, especially when compared with September 2022 compared to 2021 (2.4 million).
Surprisingly, the region with the largest stocks is Veneto, with an increase of 1.4 million hectoliters compared to the previous year, distributed between Treviso, Verona, Venice and Padua. This can be attributed in part to slowdowns in Prosecco bottling, considering that there are still significant reserve and storage volumes available for the current year.
Friuli, also influenced by the production of Prosecco, is going through a less than ideal situation, despite its production position as the eighth region. Tuscany has a surplus of over 400,000 hectoliters compared to September 2022, closely following Puglia.
However, regions such as Puglia, Abruzzo and Sicily, which had previously caused concern due to excess stocks, now appear to have addressed the situation successfully. This is partly due to the efforts made to empty the cellars between August and September, encouraged by the expected increase in prices in the current harvest, which pushed many bottlers to withdraw the quantity budgeted at the beginning of the campaign.
