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Issue 604 - November 21st - 25th 2022 - Expressly created for 4.422 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world |
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Exceeding estimates, in some cases even by abundant amounts, are the assignments of the top lots auctioned by Pandolfini a few days ago in Florence. The top lot, as expected, is Tenuta San Guido’s vertical Sassicaia (1968-2019), at 33,480 euros. But the exploit is that of the double magnums of Sangiovese 100% Case Basse by Gianfranco Soldera, with the 2010 sold at 32,240 euros, significantly above the initial listing (10,000/20,000 euros), and the 2006 at 31,000 euros. These are bottles designed by Gianfranco Soldera himself, for charity events or to be given as gifts to close friends, of which only a very few examples exist in the world. |
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In a niche but important market like that of investments in fine wines, trends can change abruptly, following evaluations on vintages, rankings, passions, but also the logic that can be purely economic, if not speculative. As recounted by the substantial upheaval in the “Liv-Ex Power 100”, signed by the Liv-Ex platform, in partnership with “The Drinks Business Magazine”, which annually lines up the “most powerful” brands in the fine wines market. The top performer in this edition is Burgundy, which, in the rankings, places no less than 39 wines, its all-time high, 6 more than 2021, while retreating mainly are Bordeaux, with 25 (-5) and Italy with 12 (-2), now tailed by Champagne at 9 (+1), and with the U.S. rising to 8 (+2). “For the first time ever, no wine from Bordeaux figures in the Top 10”, Liv-Ex points out. The top 10 positions, in fact, are all from Burgundy and Champagne (another territory in great growth): at the absolute top, there is Leory, ahead of Arnoux-Lachaux, Leflaive, Armand Rousseau, Prieure Roch, Dom Perignon, Louis Roederer, Romanee-Conti, Jaques-Frederic-Mugnier and Krug. Among the Italians, the top brand remains Tenuta San Guido, or Sassicaia, at position No. 30, ahead of Giacomo Conterno (32), where the legendary “Monfortino” is made, but not only, and then Gaja (39), reference of Barbaresco, and again Masseto (40), top brand of the Frescobaldi group, Bartolo Mascarello (42), while climbing in the “Top 50” is Antinori’s Tignanello, at No. 49, which is not only one of the very few Italian wines to improve its position on 2021 (it was at No. 65), but is also the Italian wine with the best absolute performance, “thanks to the combination of a high trading volume (seventh place overall) and therefore a high total commercial value. And it is the “cheapest” Italian wine in the Top 100, with an average box price of £1,076”, explains Liv-Ex. Still, the “Top 100” for Italy includes other top brands such as Comm. G.B. Burlotto (No. 57), Bruno Giacosa (60), Ornellaia (80), Quintarelli (No. 84, and Italian wine that has grown the most since 2021, climbing a whopping 98 positions), Giuseppe Rinaldi (85), and Poggio di Sotto, one of the historical references for Brunello di Montalcino (No. 96, another monstrous growth over 2021, when it was No. 167). |
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Instagram is the social channel that grows the most with +20% of followers in aggregate compared to 2021, storytelling to communicate “sustainability” is growing, but also proprietary e-commerce: this is the summary picture of the research “The Digital Taste of Italian Wine” by Omnicom PR Group Italia, which analyzed the online presence and activities of the top 25 Italian wineries by turnover according to the Mediobanca 2022 survey. At the absolute top is the Trentino-based cooperative winery Mezzacorona, with 61 points, ahead of Ruffino, the historic Chianti winery of the Constellation Brands group, with 60 points, and the historic Compagnia de’ Frescobaldi, the wine reference of Italy and Tuscany, with 55 points. A trio followed by other top Italian wine realities (in more detail). |
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It is a Barolo, witness to one of the noblest and most prestigious appellations of Italian enology, that wins the title of best Italian wine of 2022 for the famous U.S. magazine “Wine Enthusiast”, which, after the first-ranked Australian Giant Steps Applejack Vineyard Pinot Noir 2020, places at No. 2, Barolo Monvigliero Comm. G.B. Burlotto 2018, with a rating of 98 points. But in the ranking there are also, at No. 13, another symbolic territory of Italian excellence, with the Brunello di Montalcino Salvioni 2017, while at No. 14 is the Franciacorta Ca’ del Bosco Annamaria Clementi Extra Brut Rosé Riserva 2011, the standard bearer of one of the wineries that have built the territory’s success. In the “The Enthusiast 100” ranking, one of the most followed in the world, there are 16 Italian wines (there were 18 last year): our country ranks second as the total number of labels present, testifying to the very high-quality level of our production, preceded by the United States with 29, and ahead of France and Spain with 8 wines each. In addition to Burlotto, Salvioni and Ca’ del Bosco, wineries such as G. D. Vajra, Pio Cesare, Ferrari, Figli Luigi Oddero, Paltrinieri, Fonterenza, Castello di Neive, Rotari, Ferghettina, Cocchi, Frescobaldi - Tenuta Perano, Nicosia and Torricino. |
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One of Italy’s most in-form wine territories of the moment, which has always been an open-air wine laboratory and the historic engine of the Italian wine renaissance, and the cradle of many of the world’s most prized and sought-after Italian wines, Bolgheri will still be led by the all-female triad with Albiera Antinori at the head of Antinori (which, in Bolgheri, owns Tenuta Guado al Tasso), as president of the Consorzio Doc Bolgheri and Bolgheri Sassicaia, and Priscilla Incisa della Rocchetta (Tenuta San Guido) and Cinzia Merli (Le Macchiole) as vice presidents. |
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And the Illy Group’s Polo del Gusto remained, temporarily, “without wine”. While Riccardo Illy has never made a secret of his intention to acquire, possibly by 2022, an estate in Barolo, in the meantime, the group that brings together the non-coffee activities of the Trieste family's holding company, in a profound corporate and family reorganization operation, has sold the Mastrojanni winery, among the qualitative benchmarks of Montalcino, to Francesco Illy, already a producer with the famous Podere Le Ripi winery. With the same Francesco Illy who, at the same time, sold to his siblings Anna, Riccardo and Andrea, his 20% of Gruppo Illy (with an undeclared, but probable and important, economic liquidation, ed.), in fact, leaving it permanently (the official note in more detail). |
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“There are two words that identify the 2022 vintage of Barolo: resistance and resilience”. This is Luca Sandrone, summarizing the thoughts of the historic Barolo producers of the Deditus Association (Azelia, Cordero di Montezemolo, Sandrone, Michele Chiarlo, Pio Cesare, Poderi Gianni Gagliardo, Poderi Luigi Einaudi, Prunotto and Vietti), on the latest vintage in the Langhe. Which was among the most atypical in recent years and under the banner of climatic adaptation, but at the end of which they can only say they were surprised by the quality achieved. |
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