Valpolicella Launches 2025 Grape Harvest With Focus on Quality and Tradition

The 2025 grape harvest has begun in Valpolicella, involving more than 2,400 local producers, winemakers, and bottlers across 19 municipalities in the province of Verona. According to the Consorzio per la Tutela dei Vini Valpolicella, this year’s harvest is expected to yield wines with balanced quality, showing good sugar concentration and a harmonious ratio between acidity and pH. The grapes have reached optimal phenolic ripeness, with significant levels of anthocyanins and tannins—key compounds for color and structure in red wines.

Despite rainfall in the final phase before picking, conditions remain favorable for producing the region’s renowned long-aged red wines. The health of the main grape varieties—Corvina, Corvinone, and Rondinella—is reported as generally good. This reflects the ongoing efforts by local growers to protect their vineyards from disease and pests.

Christian Marchesini, president of the Consorzio, stated that the climate trends of 2025 should result in wines that are both substantial and true to the unique terroirs of Valpolicella. He noted that consumers can expect interesting quality from this vintage. However, on the quantitative side, the total grape harvest is projected at around 850,000 quintals—about 10 percent less than last year. Of this amount, 350,000 quintals are set aside for the drying process used in making Amarone and Recioto wines.

This reduction in production is part of a broader strategy by the Consorzio to maintain Valpolicella’s market position and competitiveness internationally. The organization is also managing supply through policies on production limits and promotional activities.

Harvesting grapes for Amarone and Recioto remains a manual process in Valpolicella, requiring about 120,000 workdays. For other wines in the denomination, which allow for some mechanization, total labor rises to nearly 170,000 workdays.

The Consorzio represents 8,600 hectares of vineyards. In 2024, these vineyards produced 59 million bottles of wine with a total business value estimated at around 600 million euros. More than half of this revenue comes from Amarone’s strong performance on global markets.