Italian wine could be hit by worst grape harvest since 1950

Bad weather to blame for drop in production in north and south

(ANSA) - Rome, September 9 - This year's grape harvest risks being the poorest since 1950 as a result of unseasonably bad weather across much of Italy's wine-producing territory, farmers' association Coldiretti said on Tuesday. The resulting wine production could be 41 million hectolitres, down 15% on 2013.

This compares to an anticipated 47 million hectolitres in rival producer France, the association said. However, it added that much depends on weather conditions in the coming weeks as around 80% of grapes have still not been harvested. The biggest fall in production is expected in the southern regions of Puglia and Sicily, where the harvest could be down by 30%. Production is also expected to be down in all the northern regions, while central regions buck the trend with an expected rise in production of around 10%.

Italy boasts 650,000 hectares of vineyards of which 480,000 produce DOCG, DOC or IGT appellation wines. There are over 200,000 wineries which together produce a turnover of almost 9.5 billion euros from wine sales alone. Roughly 1.25 million people are employed in the wine sector, Coldiretti said.