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Issue 567 - March 7th - 11th 2022 - Expressly created for 4.359 wine lovers, professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world |
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Great collector wines have existed for many years. But, it is relatively recent that fine wine, initially almost exclusively French, then increasingly Italian, and not only that, has become a real alternative investment asset (+137% according to the “Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index”). And wine collectors still have a lot of room for maneuver, because, among the assets owned by major collectors, they account for just 1% of the total: this emerges from “Collectors and the value of art in Italy - 2022”, a survey promoted by Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking and the “Artissima” fair (and published by Edizioni Gallerie d’Italia - Skira, in more detail). |
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There are many reasons why Americans love Italy- wine, food, culture, art, travel and more. Actually, there are 101 reasons, according to the April 2022 issue of “Wine Spectator”, one of the most popular wine magazines in the USA, which has once again dedicated its “cover story” to Italy (the last one in 2021 was dedicated to Lamberto Frescobaldi, ed). This is another sign of a slow, but complicated return to normality, in view of Vinitaly 2022 (April 10th-13th), and the traditional preview, “Opera Wine 2022”, the Veronafiere wine tasting featuring 130 wineries selected by “Wine Spectator”. The list of wineries underlines the widespread quality of Italian wines (already revealed by WineNews on Sunday, March 6th), which in this edition includes 9 new entries (Grifalco della Lucania, Guido Berlucchi, Catabbo, Oddero, Istine, Castello di Monsanto, Poggerino, Scacciadiavoli and Romano Dal Forno). There are also 25 “all timer” wineries (that have participated since 2012, the first edition of the tasting Veronafiere and the US magazine organized). These are: Allegrini, Antinori, Bruno Giacosa, Ca’ del Bosco, Castello di Ama, Castello di Volpaia, Famiglia Cotarella, Ferrari, Feudi di San Gregorio, Fontodi, Livio Felluga, Lungarotti, Masi, Masciareli, Nino Negri, Ornellaia, Paolo Scavino, Pieropan, Planeta, San Felice, Tasca d’Almerita, Tenuta San Guido, Tormaresca, Umani Ronchi and Zenato. They have the task of representing Italy in the eyes of such a fundamental market as the American one, which, as Antonio Laspina, director of the New York Ice Agency, said at the official presentation in New York, “has shown itself to be strong and resilient” despite the pandemic. This is demonstrated by the figures of the UIV-Vinitaly Observatory, according to which, in 2021 exports of Italian wines to the States reached the record figure of 2.2 billion dollars, growing +18% compared to 2020, as Giovanni Mantovani, CEO of Veronafiere, said: “The friendship between the US and Italy, on wine and more, is long standing. For many years, America has been the leading Italian wine market, and the relationship has been even more solid in these past two years. Vinitaly and Opera Wine 2022 will be an opportunity to renew it. It is no coincidence that the opening focus of Vinitaly 2022 will be dedicated to the markets of USA and Canada”. |
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As of February 28, 2022, Italy’s wine cellars held 59.9 million hectolitres of wine and 7.3 million hectolitres of must, with the value of wine stocks down by -3.3% compared to January 2022 and up by +0.9% compared to February 2021, with must stocks up by +15.5% compared to 12 months ago. 55% of wine is in the northern regions, mainly in Veneto, 50.3% of wine in the cellar is PDO, 28% PGI, while varietal wines make up just 1.3% of the total, and 20.4% is represented by other wines. In addition, stocks of wines with Geographical Indications are very concentrated: 20 designations out of 526 contribute 57.5% of the total stocks. Here is the “Cantina Italia” report, signed by the Central Inspectorate for the Protection of Quality and Fraud Repression of Agri-food Products (Icqrf). |
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As widely announced by ISTAT data in recent months, Italian wine trade in the world has reached a historic record: 2021 closed with growth of 12.4% in value, for a total of 7.1 billion euros and a trade balance, one of the best-performing in the Made in Italy sector, with a surplus of almost 6.7 billion euros. This was announced by the UIV-Vinitaly-Ismea Observatory, which processed the data released by Istat on exports in the 12 months of 2021. According to the analysis, in a year strongly influenced by revenge spending, Italian wine (22.2 million hectolitres exported, +7.3%) consolidates its role as wine superpower thanks in particular to its PDO productions, which do better than the general average (+15.8% in value) with sparkling wines (+25.3%) which, thanks to yet another exploit by Prosecco (+32%), double the flattering increase in still wines (+12.3%). Overall, Italian PDO wines now account for 2/3 of exports in value recorded in 2021. There was also a smaller increase in IGP wines (5.4%) and ordinary wines (+8.9%). “A year undoubtedly "inflated" by a favorable post-Covid consumption situation, but which - according to Unione Italiana Vini (UIV), Vinitaly and Ismea - accelerated the growth trend in demand for quality wines, as demonstrated by further growth, +4.7%, in the average price”. |
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Lorenzo Cesconi, a winemaker in Trentino with a historical family winery, is the new president of Fivi (Federazione Italiana Vignaioli Indipendenti). Cesconi succeeds Matilde Poggi, who was at the head of Fivi for nine years (and president of the Confédération Européenne des Vignerons Indépendants). “Fivi has grown, we are now almost at 1,400 members, but also in terms of authority: Fivi is now recognized both at political and trade union level as a serious and reliable interlocutor. I will continue the work of Costantino Charrere and Matilde Poggi”, said Cesconi. |
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“The fact does not exist”. The sentence of the Judge of the Preliminary Hearing of the Court of Trento has finally put the word “end” to the case that unjustly involved the Mezzacorona Group, one of the most virtuous Italian and Trentino wine cooperative companies. The Group was entangled in a case of recycling to purchase Sicilian companies of the Group (under the brand Feudo Arancio, ed.) in the early 2000s, which later proved, as Mezzacorona Group had always maintained, to be completely unfounded. The Mezzacorona Group acknowledges this sentence and is fully satisfied, convinced, as it has always been, of its absolute transparency, correctness and integrity of its actions”, explained a note from the Group led by Luca Rigotti. |
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Damage caused by the “esca disease complex”, which is continuing to advance rapidly in the Italian vineyard, can cost companies € 5,000 a year to replace diseased vines. But between the rows of vines, especially in the North-East, another “calamity” such as Flavescence Dorata is once again causing concern. These are undoubtedly the most dreaded vine “diseases”, problems that keep Italian winegrowers and researchers constantly alert, and on which the state of the art has been photographed in recent days at Fieragricola (see further details). |
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