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Issue 645 - September 4th - 8th 2023 - Expressly created for 4581 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world | |
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| | | Inherited from the pandemic, excesses that had far higher levels in 2022 than pre-pandemic, from the use of technology to “food-mania”, return to decline among Italians in 2023. Amid the decline in consumption due to inflation, the avoidance of non-“necessary” products also sees alcohol sales in Italy decline, to -2% in 2023 over 2022. And wine sales in large-scale distribution register -4.6% (June 2023 over 2022), with the percentage also declining in the long run (-6.4% over 2019). The wines toward which consumers will show the most attention in the next 2-3 years? Low alcohol content (49%) and alcohol-free (24%). This is according to data analyzed by Coop for WineNews. | |
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| | Tracing the historic 1855 hierarchical and qualitative classification of the great wines of Bordeaux, the Liv-ex, the reference index for the secondary fine wine market, has been lining up the world’s greatest wines every two years since 2009, divided hierarchically into five groups, following only one requirement: price. A constantly revised and updated classification, which, since 2017, has decided to open its doors to more and more territories and countries, picking for the “2023 Liv-ex Classification” among wineries that - in the period July 2022/June 2023 - have recorded at least 12 trades of five or more vintages, taking into consideration, however, only the last ten physical vintages on the market, starting with 2020, which is why the number of labels has dropped from 349 in 2021 to 296 today. For Italy there are 65 labels in the classification, with as many as three wineries capable of carrying four different labels: Frescobaldi (Masseto, Ornellaia, Luce della Vite and Le Serre Nuove dell’Ornellaia), Giacomo Conterno (Barolo Monfortino Riserva, Barolo Francia, Barolo Cerretta and Barbera d’Alba Francia) and Vietti (Barolo Villero Riserva, Barolo Ravera, Barolo Rocche di Castiglione and Barolo Lazzarito). With three labels are Antinori (Solaia, Tignanello and Bolgheri Guado al Tasso) and ColleMassari Wine Estates (Grattamacco and Poggio di Sotto, with Brunello di Montalcino and Rosso di Montalcino). With two labels there are even 11 producers: Biondi-Santi (Brunello di Montalcino and Brunello di Montalcino Riserva), Castello dei Rampolla (D’Alceo and Sammarco), G. D. Vajra (Barolo Bricco delle Viole and Barolo Ravera), Casanova di Neri (Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Nuova and Brunello di Montalcino Cerretalto), Poggio di Sotto (Brunello and Rosso di Montalcino), Valdicava (Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna Piano and Brunello di Montalcino), Bruno Giacosa (Barolo Falletto Vigna Le Rocche Riserva and Barolo Falletto), Bibi Graetz (Toscana Rosso and Colore Rosso), Tua Rita (Redigaffi and Giusto di Notri), Chiara Boschis - E. Pira e Figli (Barolo Cannubi and Barolo Mosconi) and Fontodi (Chianti Classico Vigna del Sorbo Gran Selezione and Colli della Toscana Centrale Flaccianello della Pieve). | |
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| | Of the 65 Italian labels, 8 are in the first range, 25 in the second, 11 in the third, 16 in the fourth and 5 in the fifth. Among the regions, Tuscany leads, with 38 wines in the “2023 Liv-ex Classification”, followed by Piedmont, Veneto and Abruzzo. Among appellations, Barolo, Toscana Igt, Brunello di Montalcino and Bolgheri-Sassicaia are at the top. Behind Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Grand Cru, which is confirmed as the most expensive wine (£234,214 per case), there are 8 Italian wines in the highest price range: Barolo Piè Franco Cappellano, Barolo Monfortino Riserva Giacomo Conterno, Toscana Masseto Frescobaldi, Toscana Sangiovese Soldera Case Basse, Barolo Monvigliero Comm. G. B. Burlotto, Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Biondi-Santi, Barolo Brunate Giuseppe Rinaldi and Barolo Falletto Vigna Le Rocche Riserva Bruno Giacosa. | |
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| | | He is one of the personalities who have had the greatest impact on the success of Italian wine, founder of Tenuta dell’Ornellaia and inventor of Ornellaia and Masseto in Bolgheri, a territory of which he is among the “noble fathers”, and of Tenuta di Biserno in Bibbona, the “cradle” of Biserno and Lodovico. It is Lodovico Antinori who, with his gaze always turned to the future and to the new generations, sets off with the new and latest project of his life, as he told WineNews, with his daughter Sophia Antinori: the Tenuta del Nicchio, which they own in Bibbona, but with vineyards also in Bolgheri - 12 hectares from Bolgherese to the woods - marking, therefore, also his “return” to one of the territories of world enology. This is where Lodovico comes from and will be produced Il Nicchio, the winery’s first wine (Cabernet Franc and Merlot) and Le Due Ville del Nicchio, the “second vin”, labeled “M. L. A.” (Marchese Lodovico Antinori), with the first vintages 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, produced in 2,000 bottles, already allocated exclusively to important wine merchants in the U.S., from Zachys to Wally’s. In the “dream team” with winemaker Helena Lindberg, the great winemaker Michel Rolland, in the wake of the professional union and long friendship with Lodovico Antinori, which will continue with Julien Viaud and with Sophia Antinori. | |
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| | | One of the most eagerly awaited charity auctions for fans of great collectible wines is online: from September 7 to 21, the large formats of Ornellaia’s Vendemmia d’Artista, vintage 2020, “La Proporzione” interpreted by Joseph Kosuth, are up for auction via the web at Sotheby’s. Yet another edition of a project that, to date, has distributed more than $2.3 million to leading cultural institutions. Such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the “Mind’s Eye” project, to which the proceeds from the sale of the lots will once again go this year. | |
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| | Prosecco from La Marca with 6,628 references (by label, vintages and bottle sizes) in 4,623 venues, Pinot Grigio from Santa Margherita with 5,131 in 3,773 wine bars and restaurants, and then Pinot Grigio delle Venezie from the Californian company Ecco Domani, with 3,400 references in 2,743 venues: this is the podium of the most popular Italian wines on American wine lists, according to the ranking compiled by “Wine2Wine”, the business forum of Vinitaly (which will be staged on November 13-14, 2023 in Verona), in partership with Somm.ai, the “largest wine list database” that is constantly updated. In the “top 10” very different wines, such as Antinori’s Tignanello and Tenuta San Guido’s Sassicaia, ahead of Ruffino’s Prosecco and Tenuta dell’Ornellaia’s Ornellaia by Frescobaldi, followed by Cavit’s Prosecco Lunetta, Castello Banfi’s Brunello di Montalcino and Chianti Classico Riserva Ducale, again by Ruffino. | |
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| | It is a fascinating project of great depth, between agriculture and culture, that of Azienda Agricola Pompei, with fields, educational gardens and vineyards guarded in the most visited Archaeological Park in the world, with agri-food productions rooted in the days of ancient Rome. And wine is a great protagonist of it. And, from WineNews rumors, the wine project of Azienda Agricola Pompei will restart with the partnership between Pompei and a ATI (Temporary Association of Enterprises), led by “La Guardiense”, Campania’s leading cooperative.
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