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Issue 556 - December 20th - 24th 2021 - Expressly created for 4.340 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world |
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Tenuta San Guido’s Bolgheri Sassicaia 2018 (awarded by Slow Wine, Gambero Rosso, Veronelli, Doctor Wine, Bibenda, Ais, Maroni and Corriere della Sera’s “I migliori 100 vini”) and Il Marroneto’s Brunello di Montalcino Madonna delle Grazie 2016 (with Touring Club instead of Maroni): these are the two wines able to agree on 8 out of 9 “national” guides (2022 edition) according to the WineNews cross-check. The same result, numerically, was obtained by the Giulio Ferrari Riserva del Fondatore of Ferrari Trento of the Lunelli family, but with the vintages 2009 and 2010, and the Costa d’Amalfi Furore Bianco Fiorduva of Marisa Cuomo, with the vintages 2019 and 2020. |
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There are many Italian wines that stand out and many interpretations that characterize the many sector guides published in Italy. A double track that crosses the whole of Italy in bottles and that is, first and foremost, a harbinger of complexity and richness, but also of difficulty when one wants to construct a consolidated and summarised hierarchy of absolute excellence, with the result that tracing labels capable of receiving the highest recognition from all the most important publications (9 of those examined in issue no. 16 of our comparison), is an increasingly arduous operation. As usual, we simply cross-referenced all the best tasting lists from the guides of Gambero Rosso, Seminario Veronelli, Bibenda, Doctor Wine, Ais, Slow Wine, Touring Club, Maroni and “I migliori 100 vini and vignaioli d’Italia” by “Corriere della Sera” (excluding “I Ristoranti and I Vini d’Italia” by “L’Espresso”, which published its 2021 edition in May, and has not yet come out with the 2022 edition, which will probably still come out in spring, unlike all the others examined). Apart from the top 4 (reported in the News), convincing 7 out of 9 guides are Cavallotto’s Barolo Bricco Boschis Vigna San Giuseppe Riserva 2015, Poggio di Sotto’s Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2015, Tenuta San Leonardo’s San Leonardo 2016, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2012 by Bertani, Es 2019 by Gianfranco Fino, Turriga 2017 by Argiolas (awarded, however, by the Corriere guide with the 2016 vintage), Passito di Pantelleria Ben Ryè 2018 by Donnafugata, Sette Ponti’s Oreno 2019, Il Marroneto’s Brunello di Montalcino Madonna delle Grazie 2016, Elena Fucci’s Aglianico del Vulture Titolo 2019 (but awarded by the Gardini-Ferraro duo with the 2018 vintage), Lungarotti’s Torgiano Rubesco Vigna Monticchio Riserva 2017, Casanova di Neri’s Brunello di Montalcino Cerretalto 2015, Argiano’s Solengo 2019 and Podere Forte’s Guardiavigna (which some guides award with the 2017 vintage and others with 2016). But there are also many wines that have received the maximum recognition respectively from 6 and 5 guides out of the 9 analyzed (the complete list in the in-depth analysis). |
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Wine is not alcohol. It does contain alcohol, but only a minority of it, and it is not correct, in our view, to consider it an alcoholic beverage like any other. This issue has been brought back into the limelight not so much by the debate on the EU’s “Beating Cancer Plan” itself, whose goal of beating cancer is sacrosanct. It is more a question of some of its passages - where there is no longer any distinction between abuse and correct consumption - and the effects that it risks having on the promotion and communication of wine, rather than on consumption. But it is clear that highlighting the difference between abuse and correct consumption is no longer enough. For WineNews’ director Alessandro Regoli, “the time has come to see the difference with other alcoholic drinks recognized. What is needed is cohesion among producers and an independent body to work on it”. |
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Italy, which in the first 9 months of 2021 exported 5.13 billion euros worth of wine (+15% on 2020), has its own locomotive, Veneto. And this is certainly no coincidence, given the enormous success that, for over a decade now, has accompanied the Prosecco system, which has become the most widely drunk sparkling wine in the world. An exploit that, in a different way, also concerns Valpolicella, with the result that, according to ISTAT data, between January and September 2021, Veneto wines reached the value of 1.78 billion euros in shipments, up 13.1% on the same period in 2020, or 34.7% of the total, more than one bottle out of three. In second place there is Piedmont, with a foreign turnover of 884 million euros (+18.3%) and a market share of 17.2%, followed by Tuscany, which grew by 20% to 815 million euros and a share of 15.9%. The top ten is followed by Trentino-Alto Adige (454 million euros), Emilia Romagna (295 million euros), Lombardy (200 million euros), Abruzzo (147 million euros), Apulia (129 million euros), Sicily (103.4 million euros) and Friuli-Venezia Giulia (100 million euros). |
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If Prosecco Docg has returned to grow in 2021 (data updated to October 2021 show 12% growth in certifications over 2020, with an estimated closure, now certain, of over 100 million bottles), it is because it is increasingly perceived as a cultural product, linked to its territory. This, in a nutshell, is the situation that emerges from the Economic Report commissioned by the Consortium led by Elvira Bortolomiol and directed by Diego Tomasi (see the comments in more detail). |
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Despite everything, at Christmas and New Year there is a desire to uncork, and it will be a record party for Italian sparkling wines, with almost 2 billion toasts expected and a production value of 236 million euros. These are the words of the Unione Italiana Vini-Ismea Observatory, in its customary focus on sparkling wine consumption, which has never been as high as this year, with over 316 million bottles made in Italy ready to be consumed during the holidays, 18.3% more than in 2020 and 50% more than 5 years ago. Of these, almost 3 out of 4 are destined for foreign countries, while 88 million bottles (+14%) will be used by Italians to toast, in addition to 5 million imported bottles, which have never been so numerous (+50% compared to 2020). |
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Chianti is running on the markets so fast that alarm bells are ringing about stocks being almost exhausted. A situation that, at the beginning of December, prompted the Consorzio del Chianti, Italy’s largest red wine appellation, to ask the Region of Tuscany to bring forward the release of the 2021 vintage on the market by two months, moving it from March 1 to January 1, 2022. The request was accepted by the Council of the Region of Tuscany, which brought forward by two months the arrival of Chianti on the market, setting it at January 1, 2022. |
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