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Italian Grapes Make Early Debut

Spooks Wine Country

Posted Aug 16, 2007 4:53 PM CDT

(Newser) – This year's grape harvest in Italy will be unlike any one in living memory—for starters because it's happening in August. Because of sky-high temperatures and scanty rainfall, grapes are ripening three to four weeks ahead of normal schedules. Some grape growers blame it on global warming, but scientists warn not to be too hasty.

It could just be part of the weather cycle, and it's not necessarily a bad thing for the grapes—or the wine. One grape grower said that the hot, arid summer shrank his harvest but upped the quality of the grapes, intensifying the natural sugars. But it's disconcerting, at minimum. 'What the hell has gone wrong with the world?" asks one wine veteran.

Be it global warming, or just an unusually hot summer, Italy is experiencing its earliest grape harvest in decades.
Be it global warming, or just an unusually hot summer, Italy is experiencing its earliest grape harvest in decades.   (Shutterstock.com)
Older Italian grape pickers, used to living according to craft and tradition, are now having the consequences of the industrial modern world affect their harvest.
Older Italian grape pickers, used to living according to craft and tradition, are now having the consequences of the industrial modern world affect their harvest.   (Magnum Photos)
In France too, the unseasonable heat has forces wine makers to begin harvesting earlier.
In France too, the unseasonable heat has forces wine makers to begin harvesting earlier.   (Getty Images)
I'm a bit scared, said grape picker Patrizia Fillipi. I've never picked grapes this early in the season. We're used to picking grapes in October. That's when the grape festivals are. Even my father is saying: What the hell has gone wrong with the world?
"I'm a bit scared," said grape picker Patrizia Fillipi. "I've never picked grapes this early in the season. We're used to picking grapes in October. That's when the grape festivals are. Even my father...   (Shutterstock.com)
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