Workers at Berlucchi, Franciacorta's oldest and largest sparkling wine producer, began harvesting on August 2 — ten days earlier than last year and roughly a month earlier than three decades ago. The trigger: weeks of temperatures reaching 37 to 38 degrees Celsius (99 to 100°F) combined with below-average rainfall, which pushed sugar levels in Pinot Nero grapes to peak ripeness faster than any forecast had anticipated.
'We did not expect such an early harvest or such an acceleration in ripening,' said Berlucchi CEO Arturo Ziliani.
The logistics are demanding. Regional labor rules require field workers to stop between 12:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. during peak heat, but winemakers say afternoon conditions have been too extreme even after the mandatory break. Berlucchi responded by launching its harvest at 4 a.m., with crews picking under floodlights to get grapes to the press before outdoor temperatures compromise acidity.
'The grapes are perfectly healthy,' said Ferdinando Dell'aquila, Berlucchi's technical director and oenologist. 'We just have to work as quickly as possible, harvest them and preserve their acidity.'
The pressure is especially acute for Champagne-method sparkling wines, which demand a precise balance of high acidity, low pH and controlled sugar levels. Attilio Scienza, a professor emeritus at the University of Milan, put it plainly: 'A delay of just a couple of days can leave you with grapes unsuitable for sparkling wine. Sugar rises too quickly and acidity falls too quickly.'
Berlucchi operates up to 24 presses a day, often late into the night, to handle the volume. The estate produces roughly 4 million bottles annually — about 20% of the Franciacorta consortium's total output of approximately 20 million bottles. Around 90% is sold domestically, with the remainder exported to Germany, Switzerland, the United States and Japan.
The early-harvest phenomenon is not confined to Franciacorta. Sicily began picking still wines in late July. Parts of Tuscany and most sparkling wine regions across northern Italy have followed suit. Paolo Castelletti, secretary general of the Italian Wine Union, noted that France and Germany are facing the same pressure.
'A good oenologist can manage situations like this,' Castelletti said. 'Wine quality is not compromised. It simply requires a different organization of work than in past years.'
CEO Times take: The Berlucchi story is, at its core, a story about operational agility under constraint. When the harvest window compresses without warning, the producers who survive are those with the capital, equipment and management depth to pivot overnight — 4 a.m. start times, 24 presses running into the night, a technical director who can read sugar curves in real time. Regulation that mandates midday work stoppages adds friction, but the industry absorbed it. What the numbers ultimately show is that free enterprise, not subsidy or mandate, is what keeps a 4-million-bottle operation running on schedule when nature rewrites the calendar.
