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Issue 508 - January 18th - 22nd 2021 - Expressly created for 11.897 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world |
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Many major events and fairs, even in the world of wine, have been rescheduled for the second half of 2021 (such as Vinitaly in June), hoping for a clear improvement in the situation related to the pandemic. But there are also those who, even now, decide to move the horizon even further ahead, looking at 2022. And this is the case of Simei, the exhibition of Unione Italiana Vini (UIV), world leader in technologies for oenology and bottling (a sector in which Italy is no. 1 in the world, with a turnover of 2.9 billion euros), initially scheduled from November 16 to 19, 2021, which, however, has been postponed to next year, from November 15 to 18. |
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Restaurants are closing, the shutters of bars are being lowered, and consumption is moving, of necessity, to the home. This is how we can sum up the year 2020. With all its scope of change, not only in consumption habits, but also in purchasing habits, especially if we limit the analysis to wine. Which, in the last 12 months, since the world began to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns, has shifted the epicenter of purchases from the physical store to the virtual one. With the online channel that has experienced a long period of growth, summarized by the turnover of Tannico (expected to grow by 50%, to over 30 million euros), passed under the control of Gruppo Campari. Another player in online wine sales such as Callmewine, on the wings of a 95% growth in 2020, to 12.5 million euros, has also changed hands: Italmobiliare has secured 60% of the e-commerce site for 13 million euros. At the same time, it’s impossible to keep track of the many companies that, after years of hesitation, have finally decided to launch their own virtual store. A proper choice, because like every crisis, this one too will leave something behind, a change with which we will presumably have to reckon for a long time. As told by a survey by Wine Intelligence, in fact, the percentage of wine lovers who consider the idea of buying wine online in the future is very high. Whether it’s on the website of a supermarket, an online retailer, a wine club, the corporate website of a winery or a delivery app, in the US 58% of wine drinkers are willing to buy wine on the web. A trend shared by wine lovers from all over the world, from Canada (44%) to Mexico (67%), from Brazil (59%) to Great Britain (69%), from Germany (56%) to China (75%), from Hong Kong (55%) to Singapore (69%) and Australia (61%). Italy, the thermometer that measures the predisposition to purchase are the numbers of online searches in 2020, analyzed by Idealo: the online interest in alcoholic beverages has more than doubled in the past year (+110,2%), but searches for wine have even increased by +446%, mainly driven by young people, under 25. |
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The long winemaking and cultural tradition, dating back over 650 years ago, is located on a property in the heart of the Valpolicella Classica territory, which has always belonged to the Counts Serego Alighieri, 21 generations of Dante’s descendants, produce the most famous Venetian wines on 120 hectares of vineyards on one of the largest properties in the area, starting from Amarone together with Valpolicella and Recioto. And in 2021, when Italy celebrates 700 years after the death of the Supreme Poet, Masi Agricola aims to strengthen its position and distribution in the US, the number 1 market for Italian wine, also thanks to the charm of the stories it tells, with the new importer Vineyard Brands (starting January 1, ed), distributor of fine wines all over the United States. |
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In 2019, the land market in Italy has been substantially stable, considering that after two years of growth, land values have registered a slight decline (-0.4%). There are some interesting figures, such as values ranging between 170.000 and 360.000 euros per hectare for the gardens where the San Remo flowers in Liguria are grown, or, for example, the apple orchards in Val Venosta, in Trentino Alto Adige whose values range between 450.000 and 750.000 euros per hectare. These are some of the results of the survey carried out by CREA, realized in the first half of 2020 (referring to 2019, in a pre-Covid scenario, the values of some of the most famous vineyards in Italy are noteworthy, such as those of Barolo, which according to Crea oscillate between 200,000 euros per hectare and 1.5 million euros, to those of Brunello, between 250,000 and 700,000 euros. Which on the basis of the real market sentiment, collected by WineNews, among insiders and operators, especially in some of the topmost territories, appear to be underestimated, ed). There was a partial counter-trend in the credit data. According to the Bank of Italy, credit for purchasing agricultural properties increased 16% in 2019, bringing the overall values (550 million euros) back to levels comparable with those of the beginning of the decade. |
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The equation, government denomination seals acquired to bottles sold, is not exactly perfect, but it does tell us about the market trend. In 2020 the Brunello di Montalcino Consortium delivered around 9 million DOCG government seals for as many bottles of one of the most famous Italian red wines, ready for sale. This figure that Valoritalia registered is higher (+ 12.2%) than the bottles placed on the market in 2019 and than the average over the last 5 years (+ 4.3%), partly due to the strength of two great vintages like 2015 and 2016. |
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“Wine and fashion are two sectors that are very close but also very different; I would say that the wine world has resisted better globally”. This is what Massimo Ferragamo, of the historic Ferragamo family, told WineNews. His name is a symbol of Italian high fashion all around the world, but his heart belongs to wine, and particularly to Montalcino, land of Brunello, at Castiglion del Bosco. Problems for the sector, however, are not lacking: “unfortunately, on one hand, many small producers will have to close down due to this very serious crisis. On the other hand, it could start a virtuous path to consolidate the wine sector, creating more and more employees, but also resolving structural defects, from logistics to transports”. |
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At the moment, there is no digital tax, at least in Italy: the Council of Ministers postponed everything to 2021. This deferral, for better or for worse (it has been estimated that this tax could fill the State coffers with 600-700 million euros a year), suggests that Italy will still be safe from any new retaliation coming from the United States, starting with wine. News welcomed by Unione Italiana Vini (Uiv), which also points out that exports of Italian still wines to the U.S. closed the first 11 months of 2020 substantially stable (-0.1%) on 2019, at $1.35 billion. |
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