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Issue 384 - September 3th-7th - Expressly created for 11.897 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world |
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Ornellaia’s 2015 Masseto, Antinori’s 2015 Solaia and Lodovico Antinori’s Biserno 2015 are the trio of aces, or rather, Super Tuscans, revealed by the latest tastings of the “Wine Advocate”. The first two have now joined the “best of the best” having received Robert Parker’s 100/100, while, instead, Lodovico Antinori’s wine is the only one to receive 98/100 in Monica Larner’s tastings. “These wines are the symbol of Italian winemaking abroad”, as the Wine Advocate Italian correspondent explained to WineNews, “and they have the gift of best expressing the brilliance, fullness and exuberance of the vintage. It was impossible not to give them 100 points”. |
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The analyses Ismea- market and agrifood services and UIV - Unione Italiana Vini carried out between the end of August and the first days of September and that the President of UIV, Ernesto Abbona presented to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Forestry and Tourism, together with the “master of the house”, Minister Gian Marco Centinaio, Raffaele Borriello, and the Director General of ISMEA and Ignacio Sanchez Recarte, Secretary General of the Comité Européen des Entreprises Vins, estimate the national production of wine 2018 at 49 million hectoliters, recovering 15% compared to the 42.5 million in 2017 Agea registered based on production reports. The estimate, as usual, is the average of a range considered reliable that may vary between a minimum of 48 million and a maximum of 50 million hectoliters. It is widely known that the 2017 harvest was marked by very low production and even though the increase estimated for the current harvest is significant, it may not be sufficient to cover last year’s losses. This is especially the case in the Regions of Central Italy, Emilia Romagna and Sicily. Nevertheless, this year’s result would permit Italy to maintain its world leadership despite notable increases in production estimated for France and Spain. The latest French estimates, as a matter of fact, stop production at 46.1 million hectoliters, while in Spain the ceiling of 43 million hectoliters seems a reliable estimate. Looking back at the development of the vineyards, they started under the best auspices, but were then influenced by bizarre climate that alternated frosts, rains and humidity. The final result, both quantity and quality wise, as usual, for each vineyard, will depend on the period immediately preceding the harvest. Of course, there is also a minimum common denominator, which is the maximum attention that producers have exerted on monitoring the vineyards, and this is one of those years in which the winemaker’s ability will make the difference on the final result. Interventions in the vineyard have generally been more numerous both compared to last year as well as to an “average” vintage, and this will inevitably end up affecting production costs. |
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“Within the last 10 years the quota of Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi production has tripled the average area of hectares planted by the company, renewed over 1/4 of the vineyards, and bottling outside the area has fallen 75%. Companies participating in promotion projects increased 165% and exports have grown almost 50%. These choices are paying off on quality level affirmation but now we need to work more on value, commercial and marketing aspects, in Italy as well as abroad”, explained the director of IMTV-Istituto Marchigiano di Tutela Vini, Alberto Mazzoni, about the 50 years of DOC (18 million bottles, half are exported, 2.190 hectares of cultivated land and 493 companies). “Our still white wine has been the most awarded by Italian guides in the last four years yet we have not succeeded in fully asserting our real value on the markets”. |
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Still white wine has been on a wave of growth in recent years, and is the type of wine most consumed in Italy and the UK (soon also in the US). It is the wine found most on tables in Italian restaurants and it is the most chosen, together with sparklings, for climate change and the female approach to drinking. Above all, it is a key lever of Made in Italy exports, at a value of 1.287 billion euros a year, the best seller in the world, better than France (1.277 billion), New Zealand, Spain, Germany and Australia. These are the results of the Nomisma-Wine Monitor survey for IMT-Marchigiano Institute of Wine Protection at Collisioni Jesi. In 5 years “still white Italian wines” have grown 26% in value, against + 16% of red wines, thanks to their success in Europe and mostly in North America (+ 73% of the value demand). The US, Germany and the UK are the main buyers (2/3 of sales), despite the average price (2.80 euro per liter) is lower than competitors. But, “driven by new trends and ways of consumption towards more versatile products to be consumed outside the home”, explained Denis Pantini, consumption has also grown in Italy (40.1% against 39.8% of reds), and sales at +14% against + 7% of reds. What is the ace in the hole? “The natives”, explained Alberto Mazzoni, director of the Marches Institute of Wine Protection, “versatile, great variety and longevity”. |
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Awarding “Wine Region of the Year”, the US wine magazine Wine Enthusiast’s 2018 Wine Star Awards, might hold some risks and a neck to neck between two bubble icon territories. And, in fact, Franciacorta is in the race but will have to deal with Champagne, as well as with the American Sonoma County, the Spanish Galicia and the Australian McLaren Vale, considering that in the 2017 edition the vineyards of southwestern France topped Umbria. The winners of the different categories will be announced on November 8th. |
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Bringing the suburbs of a medieval village back to its original beauty, returning the land to nature amongst olive groves and vineyards is the project of the “humanist” entrepreneur, Brunello Cucinelli to restore the magnificence of the suburbs of Solomeo, a small town a few kilometers from Perugia, where Cucinelli had started his cashmere empire. One hundred hectares of countryside have been returned to their Renaissance splendor, which was part of the plan the Cucinelli Foundation began many years ago to restore Solomeo in its entirety. And, what else could bring symmetry to the Umbrian countryside landscape if not the olive trees, and the esteemed vines, which have now replaced industrial warehouses, the children of an economic boom that left behind its concrete structures. |
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The tradition continues. Following Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, the Cities of Wine met Pope Francis, perhaps the most linked to the wine world in living memory. He is the grandson of a vigneron (his grandfather produced Grignolino in Asti); he has often been quoted for references and metaphors about wine (“there is no party without wine”). In his honor, the “flying wine maker”, Roberto Cipresso, has created the magnum “Abbraccio” of the “Selection of the Mayor”, a blend of sweet wines. |
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