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Issue 486 - August 17th - 21st 2020 - Expressly created for 11.897 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world |
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There are wineries that hold a “treasure”: Italian beauty. Villas of great architects, from Venetian Villas such as Santa Sofia by Palladio, to Argiano in Montalcino by Baldassarre Peruzzi, palaces of noble families such as Frescobaldi and Antinori in Florence or Palazzo Lana Berlucchi in Franciacorta, ancient Historic Castles such as Castello di Brolio in Chianti Classico, entire restored villages such as Castiglion del Bosco with frescoes by Pietro Lorenzetti, places where the history you can breathe is that of Italy as the Marchesi di Barolo and Fontanafredda in the Langhe UNESCO World Heritage Site, as the Val d’Orcia where the Chapel of Vitaleta is Podere Forte... |
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With the first bunches of grapes in the cellar in the top areas of Italian sparkling wine production, the 2020 vintage is already in full swing, and in the next few days it will be the turn of the whites, which, to tell the truth, have already taken their first steps, both in Sicily and Umbria, and impressions are positive everywhere, from Trentino Alto Adige to the Amalfi Coast, as some of the iconic producers of white wine production in Italy tell WineNews. Starting from Sicily, from Planeta, where “the harvest of the whites is already well underway, in advance to guarantee freshness and elegance, but quantitatively below expectations”, says Alessio Planeta. In Umbria, the Chardonnay grapes from Castello della Sala, the Marchesi Antinori brand, where the Cervaro della Sala, one of the most celebrated and award-winning white wines in Italy, was born, “guarantee excellent quality”, says Renzo Cotarella, Managing Director of Marchesi Antinori, while between the rows of Arnaldo Caprai vines, “the Chardonnay and Sauvignon harvest began under the sign of quality and balance between acidity and aromatic richness. For the Grechetto, on the other hand, there is still time to wait”, explains Marco Caprai. In Trentino Alto Adige, between the rows of San Michele Appiano, “the harvest will begin in two weeks, with beautiful grapes” says Hans Terzer, historic winemaker of the South Tyrolean winery. There is also optimism on the Collio, as Ornella Venica, at the helm of the Friulian label, who will start “to harvest the early varieties on Monday, after a perfect vintage”, says. Not far away, on the Colli Orientali del Friuli, the music does not change, and plays the notes “of a vintage that promises to be of great quality”, adds Annalisa Zorzettig, head of the family winery. In the Marche region, land of Verdicchio but not only, “the ripening of the grapes is proceeding, a few days in advance”, says Michele Bernetti, at the head of Umani Ronchi. It will be “an early harvest that of Gavi, where sunny and hot days follow one another”, as Roberto Ghio, president of the Gavi Consortium, says. More complex is the situation between the heroic rows of Marisa Cuomo, on the Amalfi Coast: “we are slightly late, after a cool and humid spring”. Finally, the Soave, where the president of the Consorzio Sandro Gini talks about “an extremely promising harvest”. |
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Take advantage of satellite and terrestrial sensors to feed mathematical models able to predict certain quality factors of the wine produced from the monitored vineyards, immediately reporting any critical aspects for the vines: it is the mission of Esa - European Space Agency that starts, by financing it, a revolutionary project, which opens a new space age and an unprecedented perspective in the wine world, for the possibility of obtaining quantitative information on the wine of the future that will be produced before the grapes are pressed, thanks to a monitoring process that will at the same time help winegrowers to protect their vineyards, in collaboration with Ticinum Aerospace, an academic spin-off of the University of Pavia, and the Terre d’Oltrepò winery to lead the way. |
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Neither the lockdown nor the crisis was enough to curb interest and turnover around fine wines. Which as revealed by Liv-ex, the reference index of the secondary market of investment wines, expands the number of labels traded. In the first half of 2020, the number of wines traded was 39% higher than in 2019, with Bordeaux remaining by far the reference territory, but with its share of labels rising from 46% in January to 34% in July. In the same period, wines from Italy, Spain and Rhône recorded the strongest growth, with the number of labels traded up 154%, 153% and 127% since January. Austria, Germany, Chile and the Loire also performed well, but starting from a much less preponderant base. Returning to Italy, two factors weighed in the long run positively. The first one is having overcome unscathed the axe of duties imposed by Trump (a few days ago for the third time, ed.), which instead hit French wines, confirming Italian wines as an excellent investment also overseas; the second is the arrival on the market, at the beginning of the year, of two excellent vintages from the two reference denominations of Italian wine in the world: Brunello di Montalcino 2015 and Barolo 2016.
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You can discuss who, between Italy and France, produces the best wines. But not on the quality/price ratio, on which converges also “Wine-Searcher”, portal and reference database for those who, in the world, buy wine online. Which has lined up the ten best labels for quality/price ratio in “World’s Best Value Italian Wines”, the result of a rather simple algorithm: average score of criticism/price. In first place, the Cannonau di Sardegna Riserva 2014 by Ferruccio Deiana Sileno, in second place the Franciacorta 61 Nature 2011 by Berlucchi, then, the Passito di Pantelleria Ben Ryé 2016 by Donnafugata. |
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The last several months have been hard and challenging. The land, however, seems to have restored the serenity that was stolen from us due to the health emergency and the lockdown. This year’s grape harvest promises great things, which we have seen in the territories where the first bunches of grapes have already been harvested: Franciacorta, Trentodoc and Sicily. In the rest of the country, as usual, the next few weeks will be decisive. There are reassuring notes on the labor front, too, which deeply concerned the entire wine world that has dealt with the emergency, engaging young people and students as well as workers from Eastern Europe, after the mandatory two weeks of quarantine. As Marcello Lunelli, Silvano Brescianini, Mattia Vezzola, Maurizio Zanella, Filippo Buttafuoco and Renzo Cotarella told WineNews, up to now, the seasonal trend has been optimal. |
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The effect of the economic slowdown and the Covid-19 pandemic in China has hit China like a club on wine consumption, and the crisis is accelerating the change of direction of the wine lovers towards niches. Such as organic wines and white wines, which stand out on the shelves of Beijing’s wine shops, with Moscato d’Asti, the only Italian denomination, present in 40% of sales outlets, at the foot of a podium where Central Valley (Chile, 57%), Bordeaux (47%) and Marlborough (New Zealand, 43%) stand out, as emerges from the study by the Mibd analysis company. |
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