This year's grape harvest in Italy will happen earlier and be smaller than in previous years. Many suspect this has to do with climate change and hot temperatures across the country. However, it also seems that the grapes will produce high-quality wines, so that is good news!

From the International Herald Tribune:

The Italian Wine Union said the harvest might come four or five days sooner than the one in 2003, which set the previous record. "The 2007 harvest might be remembered as the earliest one in the last 30 years," the association, which represents industry operators, said in a statement...

Coldiretti, a farmers' association, said vintners started harvesting as much as a month ahead of schedule, as the heat wave made grapes grow faster...

The wine union said it expected production to be down 5 percent from last year's 50 million hectoliters (1.3 billion gallons). Coldiretti said the decrease could be as much as 10 percent.