The harvest is always a special moment, when a year's work comes to fruition, and the land gives back its best produce. This year, we approached the season with the awareness that the climate plays a crucial role in the quantity and quality of the harvest more than ever before. It was a harvest significantly influenced by weather instability and extreme events, which have put Italian winemakers across the country to the test, partially forcing a revision of the optimistic spring expectations. Despite this, it was overall a good quality vintage, leading to the production of wines that are not particularly structured but certainly very balanced, ideal for those seeking discreet and refined elegance.
The winemaker at Tenute del Cerro, Emanuele Nardi, shared with us how the 2024 harvest went, amidst climate challenges and interesting results.
2024 Harvest at Tenute del Cerro: how did it go?
Overall, the estimated volume for the 2024 harvest in Italy is 41 million hectoliters. This number marks an encouraging production recovery compared to the very poor 2023 harvest, which was affected by downy mildew. Therefore, the trend is certainly positive, but without the rebound that experts had predicted — and hoped for — a few months ago.
At Tenute del Cerro, the 2024 harvest was marked by fluctuating weather conditions. As Emanuele Nardi explains, "It was a fairly good year, although we had a very short summer". During the spring until mid-June, Tuscany — like the rest of central-northern Italy — experienced frequent rains and moderate temperatures. From mid-June to mid-August, the season turned hot and dry. Surprisingly, by mid-August, the climate changed again, bringing more autumn-like conditions. "July was a very dry month, with a significant heat peak. Another characteristic of the year was the rather intense and prolonged rainfall that occurred from late August to around September 20th. Summer lasted only a couple of months, compared to the three and a half months we've been seeing in recent years", the winemaker explains.
This climatic variability made the harvest quite challenging. "We had a somewhat wet first part of the harvest, but fortunately, the second part was sunnier and more breezy", Nardi recounts. "On average, we can say that it is not an excellent year, but a good and interesting one".
The 2024 Vintage Wines from Tenute del Cerro
The wines produced from this year's harvest will reflect the complex climatic conditions: freshness and elegance will be the distinctive features of the 2024 wines. "It won't be a year for particularly complex and structured wines, but rather more balanced ones. We anticipate a production of fresh, savory wines, perfectly in line with current tastes, where the focus is on elegance and overall harmony rather than explosive power", adds the winemaker. The vintage lends itself to refined productions that highlight the deep connection with the land and the ability to adapt to the changing climatic conditions.
The challenges of the harvest: climate change
The 2024 harvest was marked by the impact of climate change, an increasingly central issue for those who work the land. "The real challenge was deciding whether to wait or not, at a time when it kept raining, and it seemed like the season was compromised", explains Nardi. The effects of climate change are not so much evident in the length of the seasons or the increase in temperatures, but in the intensity and extremity of weather events, as the winemaker explains: "This year, we had extraordinary rainfall accumulations in September, alternated with periods of extreme heat, like in July, with very hot nighttime temperatures", Nardi states. "In recent years, it's become increasingly common to experience long dry spells, followed by days when the amount of rain that typically falls over two to three months comes down in just a few hours".
Between nature and expertise: the value of human experience
Never more than in recent years, the crucial role in the final quality of the wines has been played by the work of the winemakers: thanks to their experience and timely interventions in the vineyards, during which they had to apply all their technical and scientific skills, it was possible to safeguard the harvest. On the field, targeted strategies were needed to optimize water usage during the summer drought months, closely monitor the state of the plants, and carefully choose the ideal moment for the harvest, ensuring that the grapes reached their maximum potential.
The management of the vineyard is now a mix of technology and tradition. "At Fattoria del Cerro, we have a backup irrigation system that we use when we see that the plants are under water stress to restore the correct soil moisture levels, and a weather station to monitor climatic conditions", explains Nardi. "But the difference is always made by humans, with their knowledge of the vineyards and the land". "For example", Nardi explains, "if we anticipate that July will be a particularly scorching and dry period, we will manage the leaves and greenery in such a way as to ensure shading to protect the grape clusters. Conversely, if September turns out to be a rainy month, we will remove those leaves we had preserved in July to aerate the grapes as much as possible. The technology in the field is essential, yes, but there is also a lot of tradition, passion, and knowledge of who we are and the territory in which we operate", he concludes.
If we were to sum it up, we could say that the 2024 harvest, though not an easy vintage, has proven to be full of opportunities to produce elegant and fresh wines, demonstrating once again that tradition, innovation, and knowledge of the territory are—and will increasingly be—the fundamental ingredients to overcome even the most complex challenges. A harvest that certainly deserves a wine tour to discover the finest native grape varieties and the labels that this vintage will offer us, among the various estates such as Fattoria del Cerro, la Poderina, Monterufoli e Còlpetrone.
