Alessio Planeta, the co-owner of Planeta Winery, a centuries-old institution that owns wineries throughout five territories on the island, said that this year’s high temperatures will negatively impact this year’s harvest by 25 to 30 percent compared to the average year. Planeta is another winery committed to sustainability efforts; it’s partnering to produce wine bottles made from recycled glass collected on the island - bottles that weigh in at only 410 grams.
While bigger, more established wineries such as Planeta and Donnafugata have the ability to do this preventive work regularly, the same measures aren’t always available to smaller farmers with fewer resources. In 2012, when Vini Franchetti’s vineyard on Mount Etna was directly affected by wildfire, half of the chardonnay, grown at high altitudes on the side of the active volcano, was lost, said Letizia Patanè, U.S. and Asia export manager for Vini Franchetti: The grapes were “totally burnt.”Even the vines that weren’t damaged by fire that year were affected by smoke taint.
When fires hit vineyards such Vini Franchetti’s, on Mount Etna, or in other wine-rich but isolated areas, it’s often up to the wine producers themselves to manage them. Italy’s forestali, the law enforcement officers in charge of managing forest fires, have to prioritize houses and people, and they don’t often have the resources to make it to these difficult-to-reach vineyards in time to curb a rapidly spreading fire, Patanè said.