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Issue 638 - July 17th - 21st 2023 - Expressly created for 4.557 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world |
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Alessandra Angelini, CEO of Altesino, a Brunello griffe belonging to the group that puts together more than 300 hectares of vineyards, including Chianti Classico, Morellino di Scansano and Montalcino; Dominga Cotarella, CEO of Famiglia Cotarella, a brand that includes Falesco, Cotarella, Intrecci (training) and Liaison (distribution); Vittoria Ferragamo, manager of Il Borro, a wine estate and luxury hospitality reference, are in the “Top 100” by Forbes Italia, a business magazine that annually ranks Italy’s successful women. A recognition that celebrates the female leadership of the new generation of wine. |
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Downy mildew in the vineyard is a serious and felt problem in many parts of Italy, as WineNews has reported for some time and as also reported by agricultural organizations such as Confagricoltura, with producers forced to delay treatments after the heavy spring rains that lasted until late June. And the prolonged torrid heat of these days is also being felt among the vineyards, where it is hoped that the same rains that fell in the spring will help, after allowing the crops to accumulate important water resources and cope with these days of high climatic stress. A complex picture, with many risks. And although producers still trust in their own abilities and that of the vine, a resistant, resilient and surprising plant par excellence, the need to manage the vineyard and deal with an increasingly less predictable climate is emerging. As some of Federvini’s member wineries, from Leone de Castris to Tasca d’Almerita, from La Scolca to Gotto D’Oro (in more detail), tell us. “Above-normal temperatures are a situation that has been repeating itself for four years now”, said Piernicola Leone de Castris, ad Leone de Castris, the symbolic winery of Puglia, where “Five Roses”, the first and most famous of Italian rosés, was born, “in 2021 we touched 45 degrees”. But if the heat is not too worrying, downy mildew is making itself felt: “in our case, in fact, a loss of between 10% and 20% is estimated. If we look, on the other hand, at the general situation in North Salento we have a more severe situation with peaks of losses that are around 70-80%”. Likewise Alberto Tasca, at the head of the Sicilian label Tasca d’Almerita, who adds, ’It is necessary to increase efforts toward research and scientific training of technicians to achieve an increasingly sustainable agriculture. Unfortunately, even today, downy mildew cannot be fully controlled with organic defense strategies except with high amounts of treatments, and the only way for winemakers to save the crop is to resort to synthetic substances. These molecules, while having a low environmental impact, still require careful dosing and good technical preparation in order to minimize the effects on the environment”. |
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At a time when attention to the environment has significantly increased among consumers, with the demand for increasingly sustainable products and codes of conduct, there is a run-up in the wine world to Benefit Corporations, an innovative legal form in which the concept of sustainability enters into the bylaws, and, in addition to the profit motive, objectives aimed at the welfare of the community and the environment are added. The latest, in order of time, Ricci Curbastro, first in Franciacorta, and the Treviso-based Cecchetto, but there are already many Italian wineries that have decided to invest in the territory and in social issues: from Avignonesi to Perlage Winery, from Feudi di San Gregorio to Cantina Pizzolato, from Cantina Cielo e Terra to Tasca d’Almerita, and Podere La Pace. |
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Export increasingly on an inclined plane, the domestic market in slight but insufficient improvement. This is the summary of the Uiv-Ismea Observatory analysis, which confirms what WineNews has already reported on Istat data on exports in the first four months of 2023 and Circana data on sales in large-scale distribution in the first half of 2023. In the first four-month period, the performance of Italian wine in the world marks a trend decline of 0.7% in volumes and +2% in values (exports attested to 2.36 billion euros), while the first half of the year in the Italian large-scale retail sector closes, on the other hand, with a contraction of 3.9% on the volume front accompanied by a +3.5% in values (to 1.38 billion euros, in this case the data are from Nielsen-IQ, ed.). In addition, there is a downward trend - mirroring the economic situation - in marketed products, both in the foreign and Italian markets. Net of sales of bulk wine, which is still sold at low prices, the response on volumes marketed across borders would be much more negative (-3.5%), with bottled wines at -4.2% and PDOs, in particular, at -6.9% (in more detail). |
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Among the many initiatives and networks on the sustainability front, there are also networks that range across very different sectors. Such as the United Nations “Global Compact”, which brings together more than 15,000 companies around the world, and which includes food realities such as De Cecco, Alce Nero, Lavazza, illycaffè, as well as large companies such as Nestlè, Sky, Poste Italiane and others. And which now, from the world of wine, is joined by Il Borro, the prestigious organic winery and farming estate owned by Ferruccio Ferragamo in the Valdarno di Sopra DOC. |
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At the halfway mark, 2023 fails to reverse the persistently negative course of the secondary market for fine wines, which after years of great growth is experiencing a long period of decline. The Liv-ex Fine Wine 1000, the index that measures the performance of investment wines from around the world, marks a 2.1% decline in June and -6.8% since the beginning of the year. The Liv-ex 100, or the market benchmark index that monitors the performance of the 100 most traded labels of the moment, loses 2.9% on a monthly basis and 6.2% since the beginning of the year. Also hurting is the Liv-ex 50, which monitors Bordeaux’s Grands Cru, which marks -2.4% in June and -6.1% since the beginning of the year. Among the sub-indices of the Liv-ex 1000, the most resilient is confirmed to be the Italy 100, which limits the negative in June to -1.3% (-3.4% since the beginning of the year). |
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Telling the attention to the preservation of the territory with 23 installations by young artists harmoniously inserted among the vineyards of Franciacorta: it is called “Art in the Vineyard” the new artistic path of Cà del Bosco, a pioneer in combining wine and art, with the Accademia di Belle Arti SantaGiulia of Brescia. Feudi di San Gregorio’s “Be Curious” cultural project, on the other hand, is enriched with “The Portrait of Dionysus”. a site-specific work by the artists Fallen Fruit in the Borgo San Gregorio Botanical Abode in Sorbo Serpico, featuring the flora and fauna of Irpinia. |
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