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Issue Issue 417 - April 22th-26th - Expressly created for 11.897 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world |
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Celebrated, as an event, the 100/100 of Robert Parker, creator of “The Wine Advocate”, have been for years a sort of unreachable Holy Grail for the labels of the Belpaese. Something, however, under the eyes, and especially the attentive and curious palate of Monica Larner, correspondent in Italy, is changing. And if a few months ago it was the turn of the first white wine, the Gewürztraminer Epokale 2009 of Cantina Tramin, now there is another: the Masseto is the first wine to reach 100/100 for two consecutive years, 2015 and 2016, and also the first label to put in a row three 100/100, of which the first with the vintage 2006, in a vertical retrospective. |
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These are the “Most Popular” and “Most Expensive” among the great Italian wines, according to “Wine Searcher”, lined up by online searches and purchases by millions of users. Among the most popular there is Sassicaia di Tenuta San Guido, which has also won international critical acclaim in recent months (from no. 1 in the “Top 100” of “Wine Spectator” for the 2015 vintage, to 100/100 for 2016 awarded by “The Wine Advocate”), followed by Tignanello Dei Marchesi Antinori, the first modern red wine blended with non-traditional varieties, such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, and Ornellaia, another major player in the luxury market. At the foot of the podium is Masseto, which recently opened its new home, followed by the Solaia of the Antinori Marquises, then the Barolo Riserva Monfortino by Giacomo Conterno, just in front of the Brunello Case Basse by Gianfranco Soldera, which for some years now has become Toscana Igt, without losing any of its charm. To close the Top 10, another icon of the Langhe such as Barolo by Bartolo Mascarello, Le Pergole Torte di Montevertine and a symbol of Italy’s oenology as the Barbaresco di Gaja. Among the most expensive labels, however, at the top is the Barolo Riserva Monfortino di Giacomo Conterno, which in the hundreds of online wine shops put together by “Wine Searcher”, is at an average price of 1,053 euros per bottle, the Masseto at 667 euros and Brunello di Montalcino Case Basse di Gianfranco Soldera at 625 euros. Just behind the first three, the history of Sangiovese Grosso, the Brunello di Montalcino Biondi Santi - Tenuta il Greppo, at 499 euros per bottle, in front of the Color of Bib Graetz (414 euros) and the Barolo Etichetta d’Artista by Bartolo Mascarello (396 euros). Among the great classics, in Italy and abroad, the Vin Santo di Montepulciano Occhio di Pernice di Avignonesi, which comes at an average price of 389 euros per bottle, just like the Barolo Rocche di Castiglione Falletto di Bruno Giacosa. The top ten most expensive wines in Italy are Sorì San Lorenzo (384 euros) and Sorì Tildin (363 euros), both from Gaja. |
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A partnership for the market, for now, and for the future who knows: Tenute del Cerro Spa, the agricultural and viticultural branch of the Unipol Group (five owned estates, four of which are between Tuscany and Umbria, for a total of 5,000 hectares, 300 of which are vineyards) and Villa Russiz, the wine labels of Friuli Venezia Giulia (45 hectares of vineyards in Collio), will distribute their wines in synergy, both in Italy and abroad, with a focus on markets in strong development such as China, Russia, Canada, Asia and Northern Europe. An agreement that is expected to last 4 years, and, according to rumors, there will be future developments also in terms of ownership. An intriguing encounter between two very different realities. |
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The British market is one of the most important for Italian wines, representing the first country of destination for sparkling wines (30% of total exports) and the third, after the USA and Germany, for bottled wines (9% of total). A fundamental outlet, from which important volumes pass through for different countries, but also an increasingly complex goal, where competition is very high, the uncertainty on commercial relations between London and Brussels after Brexit leads Great Britain closer to Commonwealth countries, and the growth of domestic production starts to be more significant, given that England and Wales, in 2018, touched 15.6 million bottles, beating the previous record of 2014 (6.3 million bottles). Italy, however, cannot afford to go backward, because the turnover of Italian wines in the UK, as the latest analysis by Ismea points out, reached 827 million euros in 2018 (+1.9% on 2017), equal to 13% of total exports of Italian wine. 80% of shipments start from the wineries of Veneto, Piedmont, Trentino Alto Adige, Tuscany, and Lombardy, where bottled wine still represents 44% of British imports of the category, and bubbles, driven by Prosecco, more than 50%. |
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190 billion euro, equal to 11% of GDP: this is the value of agribusiness in Italy, which increases by 15% with the related industries. Exports weigh 40 billion euros and are growing at a rate of 7%, thanks to the strength of Made in Italy, even in a market of 1.1 million companies and hundreds of PDOs and PGIs, which alone generate a turnover of more than 15 billion euros and encourage tourism, as reported by the Bain & Company study, at the centre, in recent days, of the “Milano Agrifood & Travel Global Summit” organized by Class Editori and Gambero Rosso. |
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It is called MIMA, Museo d’Impresa Mastroberardino Atripalda, and tells the story of a family that is a symbol of the viticulture of Irpinia, between three denominations (Greco di Tufo, Fiano di Avellino and Taurasi) and through three centuries, in parallel with the events that have helped to build modernity and define the Italian socio-cultural fabric: here is the museum dedicated to the Mastroberardino family, a tour set up in the ancient cellars of the family in Atripalda (the inauguration on 15 May, ed.), which is narrated through the historical documentation that runs through three periods. The first goes from the eighteenth century to 1914, the second follows the family events between 1914 and 1932 and the third demonstrates the period between 1933 and 1945, from the advent of Nazism to the end of the Second World War. |
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A Monfortino Riserva of 1961 by Giacomo Conterno, two bottles of Barolo Bartolo Mascarello of 1964 and 1967, a Giacomo Borgogno Riserva of 1947, a Fontanafredda of 1959: these are just some of the rare pieces that on May 12, at the castle of Barolo, will be under the hammer of the annual Auction of Barolo, the No. 17, which lines up about sixty lots, all, of course, of the red that made the Nebbiolo and Langhe great. And there’s more: the proceeds of the auction will be donated to charity, to the non-profit 1Caffè, founded by Luca Argentero, that helps people in difficulty. |
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