This week the Ideal Wine Company discovered that 2014 was a washout year for Italian wines, as the Mediterranean-nation experienced one of the rainiest summers its seen in years.
The Character of Italian Wines
You can’t build a reputation as a provider of outstanding fine wines at prices consumers can actually afford without including Italy on your product list.
Bordering fellow wine-making behemoths France and Spain, Italian wines have a unique character all of their own. Shaped by the climate, terrain and weather patterns that typify the wine making regions of this peninsula-nation, Italian wines tend to prove a fantastic experience for any truly devoted wine drinker.
Wine Production Falls in 2014
Wine drinkers around the world must have been disappointed this week, as it was announced that due to a really rainy summer, the rate of Italian wine production fell in 2014.
According to Bloomberg, the news was announced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) attache in Rome. Using estimates from the Italian Association of Enologists, the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service announced that it expects Italy’s wine output to have fallen by 14% in 2014.
“Unfavourable Weather Conditions.”
This means that Italy’s wine production will have slipped to 41.6 million hectolitres in 2014. The report went on to suggest that Sicily’s wine production also fell in 2014, although this time by a larger margin of 30%.
The USDA went on to justify it’s predictions by suggesting that wine production in the Mediterranean-nation had been effected by “unfavourable weather conditions.” In other words, too much rain in the summer. If it rains too much in the summer, it can affect the taste and character of the vintage in a number of small, yet bottom-line damaging ways.
Let’s Hope Italy Has a Drier 2015!
Therefore, if in a few years’ time you find yourself looking to secure a stand-out 2014 Italian vintage, you may have a bit of a job on your hands. Considering the value of quality often seen in this small corner of the wine-making world, this news has us at Ideal Wine Company hoping that Italy’s in for a drier 2015!
