If this message is not displayed correctly click here |
Issue 715 - January 6th - 10th 2025 - Expressly created for 3888 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world | |
|
|
| | | “Italy’s exports of agri-food products are set to touch a record 70 billion euros this year (2024, ed.). Wine confirms its solidity. We are talking about a true pillar of our economy that is not just a number, but a reality made up of people: 107,175 operators, 333,000 employees, 135 Protection Consortia and 12 Control Bodies. A supply chain that brings the best of our traditions to tables all over the world. Our wine is not just a product: it is the soul of Italy that wins”. Saying this, to WineNews, the Minister of Agriculture, Francesco Lollobrigida, in an interview that ranges from the role of wine for Italian agriculture to a new vision in Europe, from no-alcohol wines to possible uprooting to the Wine CMO and beyond ... | |
|
| | Deep in the red through November 2024, the Liv-Ex indices closed the year just past with a drop that in many cases approached -10%, in some even exceeded it, with Italy defending itself better than the others, as happened throughout the year, but still closing just below -7%. It is a merciless verdict, for investors and collectors in fine wines, that of the latest data for last year from the Liv-Ex, the British platform considered the benchmark for this peculiar market. The Liv-Ex 100, the benchmark index, registered -9.1% (it includes, for Italy, Bartolo Mascarello’s Barolo 2019, Giacomo Conterno’s Barolo Monfortino Riserva 2014 and 2015, Bruno Giacosa’s Barolo Falletto Vigna Le Rocche Riserva 2017, Biondi-Santi’s Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2016, Gaja’s Barbaresco 2019, Tenuta San Guido’s Sassicaia 2018, 2019 and 2020, Antinori’s Solaia 2019 and Tignanello 2019 and 2020, Tua Rita’s Redigaffi 2020, and Frescobaldi Group’s Ornellaia 2020 and Masseto 2019 and 2020), which becomes -21.9% in two years. Even worse is the Liv-Ex 1000, the broadest of the indices, at -11.7% in 2024 and -23.7% over the past two years. With the resounding losses of, among others, the Burgundy 150 (-15.2%), the Champagne 50 (-11.7%), the Bordeaux 500 (-11.3%), and with negative signs for all other sub-indexes, none excluded. Not even the Italy 100, which little consoles itself with the “least worst” award, with a drop of -6.8% in 2024 (and rising to -12.4% in the last two years), for the index composed of Bartolo Mascarello’s Barolo from all vintages from 2010 to 2019, as well as Gaja’s Barbaresco, Giacomo Conterno’s Barolo Monfortino Riserva from vintages 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2015, from Bruno Giacosa’s Barolo Le Rocche del Falletto Riserva 2000, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2017, and again from all vintages from 2011 to 2020 of Sassicaia, Solaia, Tignanello, Ornellaia and Masseto, and from Fontodi’s Flaccianello di Pieve). A 2024 year-end “balance sheet” that confirms all the difficulties of the wine market, even in the very high end. Hoping that 2025 will have, from the beginning, however difficult, a completely different trend and recovery. | |
|
| | It wasn’t so many years ago that Asia was considered the great hope for the wine market, a “feeling,” however, that over time never quite blossomed. So much so that the downward trend has affected 2024 as well, with a major slowdown for European wine exports to mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea, which have, in fact, recorded significant declines, according to an analysis by “Vino Joy News”, based on data published by Eurostat. And, from January to October 2024, EU wine exports to mainland China totaled 456 million euros, -12.48% over the same period in 2023 (in more detail), with Italy stopping at 72.91 million euros (-8.53%). | |
|
| | | Whether one likes him or not, tycoon Elon Musk always makes headlines. And, so, after the Italian government with an official note, denied the signing of contracts with SpaceX by Musk himself, from the U.S., passing through the United Kingdom, also bounces in Italy the rumor that would like Musk interested in putting down roots in Tuscany, and in particular, on the Castle of Montepò, in the municipality of Scansano, a villa-fortress whose origins date back to 1100 AD, and today an agricultural and wine estate in Maremma owned by Jacopo Biondi Santi, acquired at the dawn of the 2000s, which has 600 hectares of land, 50 of which are planted with vines (70% of which are cultivated with Sangiovese Grosso BBS11, the exclusive property of the Biondi Santi family, which invented Brunello in Montalcino in the 19th century at Tenuta Greppo), and formerly belonged to the family of the English writer Graham Greene. Jacopo Biondi Santi, contacted by WineNews, said he has not sold to Elon Musk. But, from what we learn, a real interest of the multibillionaire would be there. After all, a certain affinity might even be there, since, back in 2004, right from Castello di Montepò, Jacopo Biondi Santi spoke of a viticulture guided, in some way, by satellites. Which, certainly, Musk does not lack ... | |
|
| | | In its late 2024 update, Wine Searcher, a portal that constantly compares prices from thousands of the world’s wine shops, restaurants, and wine bars, and scores from authoritative sources of international critics, published rankings, reported by WineNews, that take into account ad hoc categories, such as “most popular”, “best”, and “most expensive,” with Sassicaia, Masseto, and Barbaresco Crichet Paje respectively at No. 1 in the rankings (in more detail). | |
|
| | For now in the glasses of few, if we look at overall wine consumption, but on the lips of many, especially in recent months, no-alcohol wines, according to all studies, seem destined to grow significantly and in a short time, in the near future. And now that they can also be made in Italy, in the Belpaese, there are those who are investing in them with conviction. As will Schenk Family Italia, the Italian branch of the Schenk Family Group, which to date has produced between 50,000 and 80,000 bottles of no-alcohol wines and beverages in Spain, 2 % of which are marketed in Italy. And which is ready to put a major investment on the table, estimated at around two million euros, to bring production back to Italy. As Daniele Simoni, CEO of Schenk Family Italia, explains to WineNews (in more detail). | |
|
| | The U.S. remains the world’s most important wine market, even for Italy. And Oregon is one of its fastest-growing territories. And Santa Margherita, which in January 2022 acquired one of its most emblazoned wineries, Roco Winery, is growing again, with the purchase of the nearby Marsh Estate, which, with more than 21 acres in the heart of Yamhill-Carlton, offers immense potential to expand Roco's wine footprint in the region. CEO Andrea Conzonato: “This additional acquisition reconfirms our belief in the potential of the Willamette Valley and Oregon”. | |
|
|
|
