"As we had already announced to our customers when we witnessed the surprisingly good commercial debut, it was not going to be an easy task for consumers to find grapes on the pallets at Christmas time. Now, a few months later, we have confirmation of our prediction. We have all sold out, and very well too, thanks to a number of factors," explains entrepreneur Donato Fanelli from Puglia, who closed the grape season about a month early.
What contributed to the excellent results of the campaign was the low yield, estimated at around 30-40% of all grapes (both seeded and seedless), and the excellent quality of the bunches, thanks to the mild and dry weather since September. This not only didn't cause any problems for production, but also stimulated consumption quite a bit. As a matter of fact, with temperatures almost always close to 30 degrees Celsius, grapes have been preferred to other fruits and vegetables.
"However, this campaign should not make us sweep the dust under the rug," Fanelli says. "We cannot allow the problems of the last 10 years to be wiped out by a fabulous year, because they could come back next season."
For the majority of the farms, the 2023 campaign has therefore ended a few days ago or is about to end. It was a very fruitful harvest year that was characterized by rather high starting prices. "In some cases, we have even tripled the prices in comparison with 2022, with averages on the plant of 1.50 €/kg for traditional grapes and 2.00 €/kg for seedless grapes. The most sold grapes were the white seedless and the Italia varieties."