If this message is not displayed correctly click here
|
Issue 395 - November 18th - November 25th - Expressly created for 11.897 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world |
|
|
|
|
|
|
On the top of the oenological world in the portrait of Wine Enthusiast we can see Michele Chiarlo, with his Nizza Cipressi 2015, the super Barbera, at no. 1 of the “Top 100 Wines of 2018”, after having conquered the palate of Kerine O’Keefe, who explains: “an award, as well as an excellent wine, also the fundamental role of Michele Chiarlo in the enhancement of the Barbera vine and in the creation of the Nizza denomination”. “Usually - Michele Chiarlo says to WineNews - we are inclined to see wines of different caliber at the top of the rankings, this is the demonstration that even the less considered native wines, when valued in the right way, can give exceptional results”. |
|
|
|
|
The Michelin Guide2019 awarded the highest prize, “10 e lode” (A+) to an Italian restaurant, out of the 367 restaurants awarded stars. Mauro Uliassi and his restaurant Uliassi in Senigallia is the new entry in the Olympus of the three stars and has joined St. Hubertus of Norbert Niederkofler, Piazza Duomo in Alba by Enrico Crippa, Da Vittorio in Brusaporto by the Cerea brothers, Dal Pescatore in Canneto Sull’Oglio of the Santini family, Reale in Castel di Sangro by Niko Romito, Enoteca Pinchiorri in Firenze by Giorgio Pinchiorri and Annie Feolde, Osteria Francescana in Modena by Massimo Bottura, La Pergola del Rome Cavalieri by Heinz Beck and Le Calandre in Rubano by the Alajmo brothers. “It is the second guide that has the most stars in the world”, commented Marco Do, Director of communication of the Michelin Guide Italy, to WineNews, “a sign that much attention is being paid to Italian cuisine. Many of the 29 newly starred restaurants are headed by young cooks under 35, and if we just consider the 3 Stars, there are 126 restaurants in the world, and Italy boasts 10, which means 8% of top level international catering is in Italy”. Moreover, in addition to the 10, there are 39 two-stars in the guidebook (the only category that stayed as is, except for Uliassi’s leap) and 318 restaurants with one star. One of these to emphasize is Locanda del Sant’Uffizio Enrico Bartolini in Cioccaro di Penango (Gabriele Boffa is resident chef), which brings the total number of stars the Tuscan chef has accumulated to 6 (two for Enrico Bartolini at Mudec in Milan, and one star each for Trattoria Enrico Bartolini in the Tenuta La Badiola Group Terra Moretti, for the Casual Restaurant in Bergamo, and Glam Enrico Bartolini in Venice, all confirmed). There was also Antonino Cannavacciuolo’s “double win”, who in addition to the two stars confirmed at Villa Crespi in Orta San Giulio, also received one star each for his restaurant Cannavacciuolo Cafè & Bistrot in Novara as well as for Cannavacciuolo Bistrot Turin in Turin, and the first star for Heinz Beck’s St. George in Taormina. Lombardy is the most starred region totaling 60 restaurants, while Piedmont climbed back to second place, at 45 restaurants, ahead of Campania, in third place at 43 restaurants. |
|
|
|
|
The Wine Spectator Top 100 for 2018 has come and gone, just like the 30 that preceded it (the first top 110 dates back to 1988) and as always has given a breath of fresh air to those companies and wines that were able to make the very restricted selection of the US magazine. For some, it might be only a fleeting success, while there are companies, which over the years have been always constant, and therefore have become true regulars on the Wine Spectator ranking. Above all, as the WineNews analysis has shown, three of the most famous brands of Italian wine in the world, boasting 13 wines each, are in the Top 100: Marchesi de’ Frescobaldi, historic Tuscan wine family, Antinori, perhaps the name of the most famous Italian wine in the world, and Gaja, the king of Barbaresco and craftsman of the Italian wine Renaissance. |
|
|
|
|
|
The history of Tuscan wine, as narrated by the medievalist Giuliano Pinto, Professor Emeritus at the University of Florence, has its beginnings in the year 1000, when viniculture was just one of many crops, alongside grains and olive growing. It has always been a constant factor, in the religious sense. Subsequently, private sharecropping was established, while the demographic development in Dante’s Florence coincided with 250.000 hectoliters of wine a year being consumed. The most influential Florentine families at the time invested quite a lot in viniculture, and they started wine farms, marketing outside the Region, and actually only centuries later, laws to protect the denominations were introduced, at the beginning of the 1960s. Wine in Tuscany has since put sharecropping aside, so that its role in the economy of the Region is now fundamental; therefore, the last step will be the path towards a “luxury” product. This is, then, the background in which Giacomo Tachis made his “appearance”. His approach will be crucial to the evolution of wine. It is based on two fundamental points, the humility of observing the best (France) and going beyond the rules, to create wines that have made history, like Tignanello and Sassicaia. |
|
|
|
|
|
How much do you like Italian cuisine? Regarding TripAdvisor’s 2018 study on Italian restaurants, which analyzes the average scores of the reviews provided by the app’s users, votes for the Italian culinary tradition are always high. Fans No. 1 are the U.S., then, Russia and Italians are stricter than foreigners, except for the Finns, the most beloved is the Umbrian cuisine. What about international cuisine? Asia is definitely the winner, with Cambodia, Thailand, and Japan on the podium. |
|
|
|
|
Increasingly focused on exports and quality, the wine cooperatives also safeguard the territory and the Italian vineyards, according to the Nomisma’s data, presented at Vivite, the cooperative wine festival on stage in Milan, that was opened by the vice-premier Luigi Di Maio, where the Minister of Agriculture Gian Marco Centinaio and the vice-premier Matteo Salvini also have been received. The data show that the Italian vineyard experienced a decline in the vineyard surface area of 7% in the last 5 years above all in the regions where the cooperatives are not well-structured, such as Campania, Sardinia, and Lazio (in which only 12% of cooperatives are concentrated) had the most significant decrease, from -15% in Campania to -21% in Calabria. |
|
|
|
|
The wine world and its markets change quickly, therefore, having a strong identity and special features to bet on are strong points in the long run, while in the short term you really need the ability to read trends and know how to adapt, which perhaps is something not yet within the reach of the Italian wine world. These are the words, to WineNews, by Enrico Zanoni, who is at the helm of CAVIT, giant of Cooperatives in Trentino, boasting a turnover of over 190 million euros and exporting 80% of production. |
|
|
|
|
