The Sicilian grape campaign is coming to an end, so the time has come to make a few assessments with Gianni Raniolo, president of Consorzio di tutela di Mazzarrone Igp.
Gianni Raniolo
"Our table grape campaign ended almost one month early this year. The weather definitely contributed, as it was bad during setting. However, every cloud has a silver lining as nature performed a selection producers do not have the courage to make, causing a drop in yields of as much as 40% in some areas, favoring quality. Grapes, especially the Italia variety, developed an exceptional muscat flavor we had not seen in long time."
The 2023 campaign was favored by a series of elements that led to a very positive commercial outcome with a profitability of at least 30% above the standard. In addition, a delay was registered in the southern hemisphere that helped our prices right to the end. While we cannot but be pleased on the one hand, on the other hand we must not forget that we come from five bad years characterized by production and commercial crises that brought many medium-small companies to their knees. This year's better profits may not be enough to make for the losses, but we need to remain positive and think that the outcomes of this campaign will help producers invest for next year. This is not a small thing, if we consider that, in the past few years, many had to run up debts to keep working."
Good years teach more important lessons than bad ones
"The lesson we need to learn from this experience is maybe more important than those we had to learn in previous ones. A better quality must not be left to natural selection! We need to improve our standards, even if it means lower volumes, if we want to have tasty grapes that is attractive. Italia seeded grapes, which many thought had reached its end, has demonstrated that, when quality is excellent, sales go well too. Our data indeed show that seeded grapes are bought mostly by older consumers and that younger ones prefer seedless ones but, by working on communication strategies, we must be able to convey a clear message concerning the nutritional qualities of the variety so that more people can become less concerned with a few seeds and instead appreciate flavors that cannot be found anywhere else. With the right message, seedless and seeded grapes are destined to achieve a parallel performance on the markets."
For further information:
Gianni Raniolo
Consorzio di Tutela
dell'Uva da Tavola
di Mazzarrone Igp
+39 335 1033575
info@uvadimazzarroneigp.it
https://www.uvadimazzarroneigp.it