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Issue 739 - June 23rd - 27th 2025 - Expressly created for 3692 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world | |
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| | | The scenario for wine is extremely unfavorable. Yet, “I believe that now is the right time to invest in wine. If you wait for everything to be perfect in life, you will never do anything. Things are the way they are, you have to choose the right places and make them grow. That’s what I’m doing, and today I’m not thinking about other investments. Maybe in the next 5-10 years...”. These are the words, to WineNews, of Alejandro Bulgheroni, one of the world’s most important entrepreneurs in the field of energy and wine in particular (in Italy with Dievole in Chianti Classico, Podere Brizio in Montalcino, and then Bolgheri, with Tenuta Le Colonne and Tenuta Meraviglia, in more detail the interview). | |
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| | 2.019 billion bottles of PDO and PGI wine were placed on the market, 0.46% less than the previous year, but 1.4% higher than the average for the period 2019-2023, with bottling increasing by almost 110 million bottles compared to 2019, a result achieved despite a global context affected by stagnant wine consumption. Furthermore, the scenario sees appellations with a total or partial prevalence of red wines suffer a 6.8% contraction, even though 38 of the 128 DO appellations in the category closed the year with positive values, including some important appellations such as Barolo, Brunello di Montalcino, Bolgheri, and Maremma Toscana. However, there was also a 5% loss in white wine appellations, with the exception of Pinot Grigio delle Venezie, which gained 3% in volume, and a significant jump of 5% for sparkling wines made from white grapes, led by Prosecco DOC (+7%), Asolo Prosecco DOCG (+50%), and Alta Langa (+9.1%). These trends highlight a shift in consumer preferences and the emergence of a different style of consumption. These are some of the findings that emerged from the 2025 Annual Report by Valoritalia, a leader in wine certification with 37 offices throughout Italy, 219 certified designations of origin equal to 56% of national production of quality wines worth €9.23 billion (of which €5.3 billion is DOC, €2.6 billion is DOCG, and €1.2 billion is IGT, ed.). The study, presented in the last days in Rome, with a focus by Nomisma on Canada (in more detail), highlighted the trend of the sector in 2024, underlining the difficulties, but also the solidity of the Italian wine market, even in the current context, after a five-year period characterized by economic difficulties, the Covid pandemic, wars and duties. Of the three types into which the quality pyramid of Italian wines with designation of origin is divided, IGT wines, which had increased by 16.5% the previous year, contracted by 6.3%, although total volumes remain above the level reached in 2022. For the third consecutive year, DOCG wines suffered a loss (-2.3%), bringing volumes back to a level slightly higher than those recorded in 2019. Finally, DOC wines rose by 2.7%, almost entirely offsetting the losses of IGT and DOCG wines. | |
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| | The Unione Italiana Vini Observatory (UIV), based on Sipsource data, states that “total consumption of Italian wine in the United States in May fell by 10.6% compared to the same period last year. declines in a three-year period of continuous losses, bringing consumption in the first five months of the year down to -6.3%, both in volume and value”. And the concerns are growing, along with the need to find new solutions. “There is a worrying decline in wine consumption in the US, and Italian labels are not exempt”, explained Uiv president Lamberto Frescobaldi, “and the imposition of tariffs by America risks dealing a fatal blow to an already stagnant market”. | |
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| | | Among the designer wineries of Italy, and of Tuscany in particular, in Bolgheri there is a new jewel of absolute beauty: Tenuta Meraviglia, which is truly a marvel. It is the new estate of the Argentine entrepreneur Alejandro Bulgheroni already the owner of the historic Dievole, in Chianti Classico, and Podere Brizio, in Montalcino, and Tenuta Le Colonne and Tenuta Meraviglia (that is, 95 hectares of vineyard for 500,000 bottles and 400 hectares of total land), precisely, in Bolgheri (in addition to 14 other wineries in the world - in Latin America, the United States, Europe and Australia - for a total vineyard of 1,100 hectares). A project of great value, with an investment of 23 million euros, that the CEO Stefano Capurso has perfectly coordinated, that of Tenuta Meraviglia, created by recovering the ancient and abandoned Cava di Cariola, in the Municipality of Castagneto Carducci, with the recovery and redevelopment of an area of over 5,000 square meters, according to the principles of sustainable construction, with the futuristic project of Studio Tori of Florence (which has already signed wineries such as Argentiera and Castello di Bolgheri, but also Villa Tignanello, in the heart of Chianti Classico, of the Antinori family).
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| | | “The wine package is a timely first response, which we welcome, but now more than ever, EU support for the sector must not be called into question. The sector must have adequate resources, and furthermore, wine wine must be promoted as a product compatible with a healthy lifestyle and confidence is expressed in the EU ahead of the upcoming United Nations meeting in September”: this is the message from the main wine representatives of the world’s top three producing countries, Italy, France and Spain launched at the latest meeting of the “Contact Group” held recently in Tuscany. | |
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| | The iconic US magazine “Wine Spectator” rewards the best wine lists in the world of restaurants with the “Restaurant Awards” since 1981, selecting the most complete and refined “wine lists” that meet the requirements of value, depth and variety. In the 2025 edition, 3,811 restaurants were honored in one of three categories: “Award of Excellence” (with 2,010 winners), “Best of Award of Excellence” (with 1,704 winners), and “Grand Award” (with 97 winners), the latter being the most coveted. And even if Italy does not appear among the three “newcomers” to the top award (with “Le Bon Georges” in Paris, “Selby’s” in Atherton, and “Soby’s” in Greenville), all six establishments that had already been awarded the “Grand Award” in previous editions were reconfirmed for Italy: from Enoteca Pinchiorri to La Pergola del Rome Cavalieri, from Cracco to Ciau del Tornavento, from Bottega del Vino to Poeta Contadino. | |
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| | The process that will allow the mention “Piedmont” to be added to the labels of wines with Piedmontese designations of origin is proceeding apace. In recent days, with the assemblies of the consortia for the protection of the region’s appellations underway, the consortia’s boards of directors have given the green light to the proposal launched in January 2025 to “Grandi Langhe e Piemonte del vino”. This was the case with the Barolo Barbaresco Alba Langhe Dogliani Consortium, those of Canavese, Asti and Alta Langa, Roero and the Barbera d’Asti and Monferrato wines. | |
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