(Agen Food) – Palermo, 17 May. – A performing harvest, the 2023 vintage, on a qualitative and organoleptic profile. Sicilian producers have given their best through their know-how, focusing on the varietal richness and diversity of the Sicilian areas, showing their ability to manage the complex and challenging climatic situation. Despite the reduction in quantity, with a drop of 31% compared to last year, identity, territory and quality win.
“From this 2023 vintage we will drink red wines with a strong identity, white wines with a complex aromatic profile, native vines increasingly faithful to the territory, international ones with a new and interesting profile”. It is the balance sheet of Mattia Filippico-founder of Sapiens grapesa company that deals with wine consultancy, presented during the 20th edition of Sicily en Primeurthe event dedicated to the preview of the latest vintage.
The wines obtained from the 2023 harvest stand out for their characteristics of essentiality, cleanliness, clarity and definition. I am the emblem of it Cricket, which continues to demonstrate its ability to create wines that evolve positively over time, a vine that performs in quantity reductions and which in this harvest revealed itself in wines with a broad aromatic spectrum and more pronounced tropical notes; The Catarratto which is increasingly glocal thanks to its great indigenous values (local) that meets the characteristics of international taste (global). Nero d’Avola, Frappato, Nerello Mascalese and Perriconeare establishing themselves as wines of the future by focusing on a style that combines elegance, versatility and freshness.
The big surprise – according to Mattia Filippi’s report – was the wine produced from the vine Syrahwhose grapes have demonstrated resistance to weather and climate conditions and a result that post-harvest has translated into wines with an acid-sugar balance and excellent maturation.
“Once again the Sicilian wine system, represented by Assovini Sicily, worked as a team and responded to the difficulties with competence and results. Precisely for this reason the edition of Sicilia en Primeur 2024, Cultivating the future, will be remembered for the architecture of the 2023 harvest characterized by the ‘Less is more’ style,” commented Mattia Filippi.
The longest harvest in Italy – one hundred days of harvesting – began in the western part of the island in the first ten days of August, and ended at the end of October in the vineyards of Etna.
“It was a very complex wine-growing year which highlighted some critical issues linked to the particular aggressiveness of downy mildew, but which also revealed a production sector rich in skills and which was able to interpret and enhance the peculiarities of a harvest outside the schemes” added the Master of Wine Peter Russo.
The 2023 harvest in Italy will be remembered as the least productive since 1947. Sicily, like all central-southern and southern areas of Europe, also suffered drops of 31% compared to last year. As for the other regions, these drops in production are attributable to the unfavorable weather and climate conditions that occurred in the spring period which favored the spread of downy mildew.
“The associated companies of Assovini Sicilia have demonstrated that they know how to manage a challenging situation such as the last harvest with competence, know-how and technique. The prevention approach and the prudent and careful management implemented by the producers have proven successful, as well as a series of agronomic techniques and monitoring actions capable of verifying water stress conditions in advance and being able to intervene promptly”, he said for her part, the president of Assovini Sicilia, Mariangela Cambria.
