(WineSpectator) - For the men and women who make wine, perhaps no word is more packed with nervous anticipation than "harvest." After months of spending time, sweat and money in their vineyards, it's the moment to see what nature delivered. For California, 2014 brought another year of record-breaking drought. For America's East Coast, winter brought a deep freeze. For much of Western Europe, 2014 was unpredictable, with sun, clouds and plenty of hail in some unfortunate spots.

In the third of five 2014 vintage reports, Italian winemakers report a challenging but potentially good year. From Bordeaux to Champagne, summer was wet and cloudy, requiring countless hours in the vineyards. For grapes that could stay on the vine late, September brought desperately needed sun.

As for final quality in the bottle, it's too early to know, but here's a sneak peek.

• The Northeast 
• Piedmont 
• Southern & Central Italy 
• Tuscany

Italy

The Northeast: Venezia-Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige and the Veneto

The good news: Fine weather in September helped diligent producers harvest a smaller, but healthy crop.

The bad news: Production quantities will be lower in 2014 thanks to a cloudy, wet summer.

Promising areas: Prosecco—the wine’s Glera grapes are typically harvested early and at higher levels of acidity, which 2014’s conditions supported.

Challenging areas: 2014 was challenging for everyone, but particularly for the reds, especially Veneto’s Amarone.

Analysis: Like much of Italy, northeastern wines from 2014 were shaped by ongoing rain during the summer months. To counter the wet conditions, quality-oriented producers needed to do extensive work in the vineyards to battle disease and encourage ripening despite few sunny days.

“We have to go back 18 years before we find another summer as cold and rainy,” said Alvaro Pecorari, owner of Lis Neris in Friuli. Percorari said they used leaf thinning and pruning techniques to manage vine canopies. Producers who attended to their vineyards carefully in summer months were rewarded by September’s fair weather, including sunny days that helped the grapes reach greater ripeness levels.