The Italian enologists’ professional association, Assoenologi, has noted that this year’s harvest will be one of the smallest since WWII.  Early season frost, summer hail, and heat and drought conditions will likely push the production down 25% from 2016.  Lazio and Umbria have been the hardest hit with a 40% decrease in production, followed by Sicily with a 35% drop.  Heat and drought in the Tuscan summer (see my August 1, 2017 post) contributed to a production decrease of 30%. Piemonte, Veneto, and Friuli are more optimistic with a collective decrease of 15%.  Northern Italy in general fared much better.

This is not to say quality will necessarily be impacted.  Growers are cautiously optimistic.  2017 hopefully will be a vintage of quality wine, just less of it.  Expect prices to go up also.