In mid-May of this year, news broke that the Pinot Noir harvest in Prosecco DOC was going to come up short and as a result, demand would outstrip the supply of Rosé Prosecco. Retailers were quick to downplay concerns, with Lidl reassuring customers that there was no issue with supply.
In 2015, a poor Glera harvest coupled with soaring demand created a shortfall in prosecco. Cue mass hysteria, Vice.com ran the headline “Everybody Panic Because a Prosecco Shortage is Looming,” and every obeyed. Supermarket shelves were ransacked and queues at off-licenses stretched down high streets in what was dubbed the “Prosecco-palypse.”
If these frenzied scenes are going to repeat, it hasn’t happened yet. Either the toilet roll hoarding of 2020 has scratched the stockpiling itch, or the effects of the shortage haven’t materialised.
“Is this a bit of a PR stunt from the consortium? I don’t know. From on the ground, I haven’t heard any issues and have only had assurances,” says Ed Smith founder of The Emissary, the first independent British brand of prosecco rosé.
“Our vineyard has assured us that they’re going to be able to supply enough rosé prosecco and there won’t be a shortage for us, maybe there is a worry is for the bigger cooperative producers who mass produce.”
Rosé Prosecco is a category in infancy, only given the Italian government’s approval in May 2020, but unlike other nascent categories, it has an immediate familiarity.
“Rosé prosecco has been on the cards for years and it kept being pulled back and not approved by the consortium, year after year,” says Smith.
“Everyone knew it was going to be a popular category, coming off the back of Prosecco which is obviously wildly popular as a category itself and then combined with the popularity of Rosé. The Provence Rosé category has gone completely bananas as well, so it has been a meeting of two categories in what has been a perfect storm. But even though everyone expected it to do well it has probably exceeded expectations.”
And Smith is assured that even in the unlikely event of a shortage, this pedigree will keep customer confident in the category.
“It’s very well established as a category and will remain popular particularly amongst British consumers. If there are shortages, I don’t think there’s any threat of reputational damage as it’s been so well received. The very fact that we’re discussing whether shortages could potentially become an issue shows how popular it is.”
As witnessed in the aftermath of the 2014 harvest, the short production cycle of Prosecco makes it adaptable year on year. A Pinot Noir shortage chalked up as teething problems won’t necessarily reoccur.
“If it does become a problem, it will be the 2022 vintage where they can fix it,” says Smith. “As it is non-vintage, they’ll quickly be able to manage the supply and it will be a quick fix. Vineyards can put more of ground down to the Pinot Noir grape, and as this is so early on in the life of the category that’s the balance that the producers are going to have to work out, how many Pinot Noir grapes they grow to meet Rosé demand.”
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Smith hopes that the reaction from producers if they get a whiff of scarcity isn’t to put up prices.
“It would be bad to increase prices, not only for the category’s reputation but for its key selling point,” says Smith.
“Part of the popularity of Prosecco is due to its affordability. If they start jacking the prices up too much it will completely undermine one of the things that made Prosecco so popular. It can’t go up to champagne prices because that’s not the mentality. If supermarkets do have to start hiking their prices up, that undermines what we’re doing. The reason we are more expensive is that we produce a higher quality product made in a single-estate vineyard rather than the cheapest mass-produced stuff, so I hope prices don’t start increasing without offering better quality wines.”
Although there is a confidence that a low yield Pinot Noir harvest in prosecco won’t impact consumers, and the threat of shortage could just be the DOC stirring up the conversation, it is the latest unpredictable wine grape harvest in what is becoming a global pattern. In New Zealand, there are warnings of a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc shortage, French and Northern Italian vineyards were hit by devastating late-Spring frosts, and droughts have affected Californian wine regions to the extent where some farmers haven’t bothered to plant crops.
“The volatility of harvests and weathers all comes back down to climate change and it is a threat to everything we’re doing,” says Smith.
“I’m from a family of farmers and in my lifetime, it’s been noticeable how the climates and seasons have changed. Our vineyard has the SQNPI qualification, which is the highest grade of sustainability and to feed the world going forward we must be responsible with how we produce our consumable goods, food and everything else that goes with it.
