If this message is not displayed correctly click here |
Issue 727 - March 31st - April 4th 2025 - Expressly created for 3709 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world | |
|
|
| | | Universal tariffs for all goods produced outside the U.S. at 10%, starting today, and then the different rates per country or geographic area, 20% in the case of the European Union, including also the entire wine and agribusiness sector, from April 9 (while goods in transit or already loaded on the last vehicle that must then arrive in the States by April 4 would be “saved”): this is the “road map” outlined by U.S. President Donald Trump in the executive order signed in recent days, with No. 1 of the United States dictating to the world’s economies in his speech (in more detail) under the banner of “America First”. | |
|
| | While the picture on U.S. tariffs first promised, and then introduced by Donald Trump, in what was, according to the U.S. President, a new “declaration of economic independence”, is becoming clearer by the hour, in its harshness and timing, as well as from the world of politics of Italy and the European Union, already working to limit the damage and seek a diplomatic solution as quickly as possible (although counter tariffs on U.S. products are already ready, which could be announced around mid-April, ed,) come the reactions of trade organizations, consortiums and from Italian food and wine companies (from Unione Italiana Vini-Uiv to Federvini, from Ceev to Federalimentare, from Coldiretti to Confagricoltura, from Cooperatives to Cia-Agricoltori, from Legacoop Agroalimentare to Origin Italia, passing through many export-focused consortiums and companies, such as Edoardo Freddi International, in more detail) that have the U.S. as a key market, with €7.8 billion in total exports in 2024, of which €1.9 billion in wine alone, with the U.S. as the no. 1 absolute of the Italian wineries. Between those who say they are more concerned, those who preach caution, those who stress once again the need to diversify Italian wine’s target markets, starting with South America, thanks to the recent agreement between the EU and Mercosur, and those who do not see it too badly, or, at least, not so much as to give in to panic, leveraging factors such as the good value for money of Italian wines, historically a strong point of the Italian wine offering, and the fact that a 20% increase, if partly absorbed by producers, partly by the U.S. trade and partly spread on the consumer, at least for a while, albeit with difficulty, could be sustainable. In any case, tensions are high, not least because, as many analysts point out, we are faced with an unprecedented situation, with duties being imposed by one of the world’s most important consumer markets on many goods from many major producers, the European Union and the Asian area, including China, in the lead, with consequences that are difficult to predict on consumption as a whole, and even more so on individual sectors, moreover voluptuous, such as wine. | |
|
| | Coping and living with climate change, using resistant grape varieties only for generic wines, changing the way wine is communicated, opening up to dealcoholized wines as well. These are the highlights of the prolusion (in more detail) with which Angelo Gaja, among the most celebrated and listened to producers, an icon of Italian wine, an artisan and now increasingly acting as a “lecturer”, opened the new Academic Year of the Italian Academy of Vine and Wine (Aivv) in Alba in recent days, of which, in addition to Gaja, Oscar Farinetti, Eataly patron and wine producer (with several estates of the Fontanafredda Group, in Piedmont and beyond), Ferdinando Frescobaldi, Emilio Pedron, a longtime manager in the world of wine, and Luca Rigotti, at the head of the Mezzacorona Group, were also named honorary academicians. | |
|
| | | The most prestigious companies in Italy’s most important wine territories continue to be attractive to those with capital to invest in an asset that, despite the complex period, remains strategic for Italy, such as great wines. This is the case, once again, in Montalcino, the land of Brunello, where, as WineNews is able to anticipate, entrepreneur Fabrizio Di Amato, one of the most important names in Italian industry (president and major shareholder of the Maire Group, a technological giant that, in 2024, reached revenues of 5.9 billion euros), with Maire Investments has signed an equal partnership with Roberto Giannelli’s Tenuta San Filippo, one of Montalcino’s jewels, among the territory’s wineries most awarded by international critics (and which, among the many high scores consistently awarded, over the years, to its wines, by such signatures as “The Wine Advocate”, “Decanter”, “James Suckling” and others, has seen its Brunello di Montalcino Le Lucére 2015 placed on the podium, as No. 3, of the “Top 100 Wines of 2020” by “Wine Spectator”). An important investment, to “further develop the uniqueness of this project internationally” and “make a subsequent dimensional leap, both in terms of production capacity and market expansion”, Tenuta San Filippo explains. | |
|
| | | Vinitaly 2025 (April 6-9) is preparing to open its doors, and it is doing so by also involving Italy’s top institutions, testifying to the value that wine has for Italy. The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, received at Quirinale in Rome a delegation from Veronafiere, led by President Federico Bricolo, with CEO Maurizio Danese and MD Adolfo Rebughini, Verona Mayor Damiano Tommasi, Ice Agency President Matteo Zoppas, Federvini (Gruppo Vini) President Albiera Antinori and Ceev and Agivi-Uiv President Marzia Varvaglione. | |
|
| | Tradition, culture, identity, value, passion. These are the tags used by the “Masters of the Art of Italian Cuisine” awarded in the Cloisters of Palazzo Chigi, in the presence of numerous students enrolled in hospitality and catering institutes, by Premier Giorgia Meloni and Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida. If that for the art of wine-making went to Riccardo Cotarella, to be honored were leading personalities in their sectors, such as Massimo Bottura for Cuisine, Iginio Massari for Pastry, Carlo Petrini for Gastronomy, Franco Pepe for Pizza, Carlotta Fabbri for Ice Cream, Piercristiano Brazzale for Dairy Art, and Maria Francesca Di Martino for Oliviculture Art. | |
|
| | Destination par excellence of out-of-town stays already in the time of the Romans, and for the Popes, who became the owners of the entire territory, among luxurious country residences and valuable monuments, in villages that are reflected in the waters of volcanic lakes, in the vineyards of the “Garden of Rome” around the Alban Hills are born denominations that have made the history of Italian wine, such as Frascati. This is how Castelli Romani, elected “Italian Wine City” 2025, is called. | |
|
|
|
