Sicily Opens Italy’s 2026 Grape Harvest With Early Picking in Menfi

The 2026 grape harvest is starting in Sicily, where Cantine Settesoli said it will begin picking early-ripening varieties on July 23 in the Menfi area on the island’s southwest coast.

The cooperative, one of Sicily’s largest wine producers, said the first grapes to be harvested will include Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Moscato and Chardonnay. Red varieties, including Merlot and Alicante Bouschet, will follow later as ripening advances.

Settesoli operates across 5,700 hectares of vineyards worked by about 2,000 growers. Its vineyards stretch from sites near the sea around Menfi to land facing Selinunte, home to what the company described as Europe’s largest archaeological park. The start of picking there is one of the first concrete signs that Italy’s 2026 harvest season is underway, with Sicily once again moving ahead of many other wine regions because of its climate and growing conditions.

The company said expectations remain positive despite what it called climate anomalies during the growing season. According to Settesoli, autumn and winter brought more than 850 millimeters of rain in total, helping replenish soil water reserves after recent years in which drought has often shaped vineyard conditions across parts of Sicily. That moisture was followed by an early budbreak in spring.

Settesoli also said its viticulture team closely monitored vineyards in June to limit fungal disease pressure. Then came a period of intense dry heat in July, with temperatures reaching as high as 38C, which accelerated ripening in the earliest varieties.

Based on initial analytical readings, the cooperative said it expects wines with strong minerality and acidity and an overall high level of quality from the first fruit coming into the cellar. Those are early projections at the start of harvest, when producers are still assessing how fruit from different vineyard sites performs as picking expands over the coming weeks.

The opening of harvest in Sicily matters beyond the island because it offers one of the first market signals for Europe’s new wine crop. Early reports on yields, acidity and ripeness can shape expectations for bulk wine supply, pricing and export planning later in the season, especially for white wines made from international grape varieties that are widely sold in retail and restaurant channels.

For producers and buyers in the beverage sector, the start of harvest at a large cooperative such as Settesoli is also closely watched because of its scale. With thousands of growers and a broad vineyard base, its early assessments can provide an initial reading on how weather patterns may affect wine availability and style in one of Italy’s most important producing regions.

Sicily has often been among the first parts of Italy to begin harvesting grapes, and this year appears to be following that pattern again. With some of the first bunches already arriving at wineries on the island, the long 2026 harvest season is beginning under close attention from growers, winemakers and wine markets looking for signs of quality and volume after another year marked by weather extremes.