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Issue 655 - November 13th - 17th 2023 - Expressly created for 4633 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world | |
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| | | One out of three wine merchants (33%) say wine sales in the first 10 months of 2023 were identical to the same period in 2022, and for one out of three (33%) they even increased; only a third say they decreased: “an all in all positive situation, taking into consideration the difficult economic situation 2023, between inflation and high costs of living”, says Andrea Terraneo, president of Vinarius, the association of Italian wine shops, anticipating to WineNews the first results of a survey carried out among merchants. Also positive is the sentiment on the forecast for the holidays, the most important period of the year for wine sales.
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| | 131 wineries, with 25 “all timers”, present from the first 2012 edition (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, Masciarelli, Nino Negri, Ornellaia, Paolo Scavino, Pieropan, Planeta, San Felice, Tasca d’Almerita, Tenuta San Guido, Tormaresca, Umani Ronchi and Zenato), three absolute debuts (La Valentina from Abruzzo, Tenuta di Argiano, whose Brunello di Montalcino 2018 was elected, in recent days, at the top of the “Top 100” by Wine Spectator as “Wine Of The Year”, and Isole and Olena, which for some time now has been part of the Descours family’s Epi group, such as Tenuta Greppo - Biondi Santi, the winery where Brunello di Montalcino was born in the 19th century, ed.), the Langhe of Barolo territory with more wineries present, and Antinori the family that symbolizes the history and success of Italian wine, present with no less than 4 wineries (Jermann, from Friuli Venezia Giulia, Prunotto, from the Langhe, Tormaresca, in Puglia, as well as, clearly, Marchesi Antinori, in Tuscany), for an ever-changing mosaic capable of telling the story of the quality and diversity of Italian wine: here are the highlights (and the list, which WineNews has anticipated, in more detail), of the wineries selected by “Wine Spectator” for “Opera Wine 2024”, unveiled at “Wine2Wine”, the “business forum” by Veronafiere, for the big tasting (and the only one held abroad by the most widespread and influential magazine in the American and international wine market) that now, by tradition, precedes Vinitaly. And which will be staged, in 2024, on April 13, launching the sprint to the most important Italian wine fair, Vinitaly, scheduled, in Verona, from April 14 to 17. 131, as mentioned, the wineries selected this year, in a list that has always varied in number and composition (130 in 2023 and 2022, 186 in 2021, a special 10th anniversary edition, 103 in 2019 and 107 in 2018, to stop at the last few years). Among the regions, Tuscany is by far the most represented with 33 wineries, ahead of Piedmont with 19, Veneto with 18 and Sicily with 16 wineries. | |
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| | Red wines are in trouble, Tuscany is no exception, as shown by Avito’s data on bottlings and bottling bands, which, if they are not a millimeter-accurate snapshot of the market, give, however, a reliable indication of what is coming out of wineries. The Region as of October 2023, over the same period 2022, is at -8%, with all the most important Denominations down: -11% for Igt Toscana, -3% for Chianti, and down even Chianti Classico, at -15%. In Montalcino, the drop is for both Brunello di Montalcino (-6%) and Rosso di Montalcino (-15%) as well as in Montepulciano: Nobile at -11% and Rosso di Montepulciano at -7%. Down -11% Bolgheri, Morellino di Scansano at -3%, Montecucco at -35%. In positive only Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Maremma (also thanks to Vermentino), and the small Val d’Arno di Sopra, Orcia and Pomino (data in more detail). | |
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| | | Argiano “Wine of the Year” 2023, at No. 1, with the only Brunello di Montalcino in the “Top 100” by “Wine Spectator”, where the absolute triumphant territory is Chianti Classico, with as many as 7 wines signed “Black Rooster” out of 24 Italians in the ranking (compared to 20 in 2022). On the one hand, a solo, with Brunello di Montalcino 2018 from the historic winery that was owned by the Caetani Lovatelli family, and today by Brazilian entrepreneur Andrè Esteves, and led by Bernardino Sani; on the other, the chorus with many voices, of a territory, Chianti Classico, that has grown a great deal in quality and value, in a widespread way. This is one of the possible readings of the list of the world’s 100 best wines of the year, according to the American magazine, which, after announcing its “Top 10”, which includes Mastroberardino’s Taurasi Radici Riserva 2016 at No. 5, and Antinori’s Chianti Classico Marchese Antinori Riserva 2020 at No. 7, sees, as always, from Alto Adige to Sicily, many Italian wines. From Castello di Bossi to Fattoria di Fèlsina, from Tenuta di Arceno to G.D. Vajra, from Dei to Pico Maccario, from Giuseppe Cortese to Castello di Querceto, from Poggerino to Ratti, from Mionetto to Michele Chiarlo, from Cecchi to Nino Negri, from Bisci to Abbazia di Novacella, from Poggio San Polo to Catabbo, from Paolo Scavino to Isole & Olena, to Morgante (the wines in more detail). | |
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| | | 17.9 million euros of co-financing with European funds, which will activate promotion projects in Third Countries for an amount of around 40 million: these are the funds allocated by the provisional ranking of projects eligible for funding for the national share (worth more or less 30% of the budget) of the OCM Wine Promotion 2023/2024, published in recent days on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture. At the top are the projects of Nosio Spa (Mezzacorona), Santa Margherita Group and Cantine Torresella, Casa Vinicola Zonin, Gruppo Italiano Vini - Giv and Fantini Group. | |
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| | After an exceptional 2022, with the sale of 100,081,088 bottles for a value of nearly 607 million euros, 2023 of Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Docg will close on pre-pandemic values, with -10% in sales and a -6% reduction in volume abroad, but with an estimated +4.7% growth in product value, despite the complexity of the vintage. These are the forecasts of the Consortium’s “Economic Report” 2023 edited by Cirve of the University of Padua. While catering in the Italian market, supported by foreign tourists, is maintaining volumes, the volume of sales in large-scale distribution in the period October 2022-October 2023 is down 6.5%, compared to an increase in value of 2.3%, but demand is now realigning. Tourist flows in the territory are growing, with 16% increase in arrivals, and 2023 will be the year of overtaking pre-Covid.
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| | From the markets of the world come faint signs of recovery for Italian wine exports: according to the data on the first 8 months of 2023, updated today by Istat, values remain negative on 2022, but only by -0.7% (on -1.2% in the 7 months), 5 billion euros, while in volume there is even a return to positive, albeit by a modest +0.8%, compared to -1.2% of the figure updated in July, for 14 million hectoliters. The large markets of Europe are doing well, North America and Asia less so (in more detail). | |
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