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Issue 472 - May 11th - 15th 2020 - Expressly created for 11.897 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world |
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The idea of Raimondo Romani, at the helm, together with Flaviano Gelardini, of Gelardini & Romani Wine Auctions, of a big auction, in Hong Kong, with the protagonists of Italian fine wines, involving companies, wine merchants, collectors, to relaunch the world of fine wines of the Belpaese, weakened by the economic crisis triggered by the Covid-19 emergency, is reality. Appointment on May 17, for “the first wine auction in Hong Kong in 2020”, Raimondo Romani told WineNews. In all, recalls Guido Groppi, head of Finarte’s Wine and Spirits Department, “750 lots, which represent, even symbolically, the Italy of wine in the world”. |
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Italy, with great caution, tries to start again, learning to live together, while waiting for the vaccine, with the Covid-19. The most awaited stage, also from the world of wine, is the reopening of bars and restaurants, where a fundamental share of quality wine consumption passes. This is the first step towards the return to normality, but it will certainly not be enough - on its own - to save budgets for a sector that links a good half of its turnover (6.4 billion euros in 2019) to exports, much more in the case of many leading companies, especially in the most prestigious territories and denominations. From around the world, two months after the pandemic took on global dimensions, the signs that are coming are not yet positive, but a few glimmers of light are coming, starting from Asia, where everything started and where everything, is returning to normal (considering warehouses still full, especially in China), waiting for Europe and North America, where large-scale retail and online are the masters (especially in Germany), with the State Monopolies that - in Norway, Sweden and Canada - guarantee certain stability, considering an inevitable contraction in consumption. We talked to some of the most important wine entrepreneurs in Italy about markets, between current events and medium-term prospects: from Marchesi Antinori’s Renzo Cotarella to Michele Bernetti, at the helm of the Marche Umani Ronchi brand, from Sandro Boscaini, head of Masi Agricola in Valpolicella, to Valentino Sciotti, president of Farnese Vini, from Massimo Ruggero managing director of Siddùra, in northern Sardinia, to Sandro Sartor, general manager of Ruffino, from Enrico Viglierchio managing director of Castello Banfi, leader of Brunello di Montalcino, to one of the great names of Abruzzo Marcello Zaccagnini, from Diego Cusumano (one of the great brands of wine Sicily) to Beniamino Garofalo, to the Santa Margherita Group, to Valentina Abbona, export manager of the historic Marchesi di Barolo. |
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Re-opening after Covid-19 will be tough; yet there are people who look to the future, starting with wine. Therefore, Renzo Rosso, owner of the Diesel fashion brand, and a wine producer (his company is Diesel Farm, in Marostica, in the Vicenza area), has joined the social structure of Masi Agricola, one of the top Italian wine companies, as well as being among the very few listed on Aim Italia on the Stock Exchange. The majority of the company remains firmly in the hands of the Boscaini family, president Sandro Boscaini, and also Bruno Boscaini and Mario Boscaini, who hold 24.5% each, while Rosso’s Red Circle Investment Srl has acquired a share of 5%. The shareholding threshold allows Rosso to have the right to vote, explained an official note from Masi Agricola. |
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“We are serene about the spaces, on food and catering we can think about reviewing the offer, but tourists have to arrive, and this depends on transport”, explains Francesca Planeta, at the helm of the Sicilian brand, which offers hospitality in Palermo with Palazzo Planeta and the Foresteria Planeta in Melfi. “It will be a “slow” reopening: it is unthinkable to reactivate hospitality machines that, at full capacity, have very high management costs,” says Alberto Tasca, at the helm of Tasca d’Almerita and the Capofaro resort in Salina. “The Albereta in Franciacorta (photo) and the Andana in Maremma are not lacking in space: we will review the offer in the name of the most classic Italian-style holiday, for families, providing a figure dedicated to each, almost a butler,” explains Carmen Moretti of the Terra Moretti Group. “We have already started up the catering business with delivery and take-away, both with Borgo Antico of the Hotel Villa Quaranta, with Caffè Dante in Verona and also with the Bottega del Vino which is under the management of the Famiglie Storiche of which we are part - explains Piergiorgio Tommasi, of Tommasi Family Estate - not only for the COVID emergency but also for the future. On hospitality tout court, it is more difficult to plan (the complete interviews in-depth analysis)”. |
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Two brands of the made in Italy that wins in the world, the good and the beauty, together for the creation of a wine “tailor-made”, which also wants to be a message of positivity in a difficult moment, an invitation not to see everything black, but to think about a future a little brighter. This is how Rosa, the rosé wine signed by Donnafugata, one of the leading wineries of the Sicilian Renaissance, and Dolce & Gabbana, one of the most famous Italian fashion brands, was born. A “perfect ambassador of two excellences of Made in Italy”, explain the two brands. |
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One of the most important challenges that the winemaking world is facing, is climate change. Brunello di Montalcino’s leading wine company, Castello Banfi, is prepared to innovations. With the Edmund Mach Foundation of San Michele all’Adige, it has entrusted to 25 varieties the hopes of viticulture to resist global warming and vine diseases. “The objectives”, Gianni Savelli, agronomy manager of Castello Banfi, explained, “are to find resistant varieties, and safeguard the environment as well as the workers in the vineyard, by adopting fewer treatments. Our research is focused on varieties resistant to major diseases. We have taken ten varieties from the Edmund Mach Foundation of San Michele all’Adige, two are registered in the national register (Iasma Eco 1 and Iasma Eco 2, ed.) and eight are in exclusivity that for the first time have been included in the open field. |
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A virtual showcase for consortiums, associations, companies and labels: this is Hopwine, the first online trade fair dedicated to the wine sector on the web (hopwine.com) from 18th to 25th May, where the Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico will also participate - the only representative of Made in Italy in expo -. The visit will be virtual, but the tasting, thanks to 2 cl samples sent to traders and professionals, will be real, because the tasting, even from afar, remains the heart of the wine trade. |
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