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Issue 750 - September 8th - 12th 2025 - Expressly created for 3664 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world | |
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| | | Istat data on Italian wine exports, analyzed by WineNews and updated in June 2025, show a slight improvement while maintaining a “light” deficit in the first half of 2024. This translates into a -0.47% decline in value (compared to -0.82% in May) to €3.8 billion and a -3.1% decline in volume (compared to -3.8% in May), exceeding one million liters. The US and Canada continue to remain positive, but Russia is collapsing and some “top” European markets (Germany and the UK) and Asia are slowing down. Sparkling wines are recovering (from -1% to -0.4%) in value, equal to €1 billion, and the sign becomes positive in volume at 254.1 million liters (+0.1%). | |
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| | For those who have invested in fine wines for speculative purposes in recent years, things are not going too well, as we have often written, and the easy gains of a few years ago are now just a distant memory. But for those who see great wines as an object of passion and buy them to age and drink at the right moment, on the other hand, with prices falling slightly from the peaks of the recent past, the glass is half full. And it is Liv-Ex, the leading secondary market platform, that “classifies” the most highly valued wines on the market, specifying how, in the 2023 edition, in this new 2025 classification, the price levels that define the “tiers” (from 1 to 5) have been revised downwards by 23%, following the trend of the Liv-Ex 1000, the platform’s broadest index, between June 2023 and June 2025. Overall, Liv-Ex explains, while France dominates the list with 207 labels, including 48 in “tier 1” and 85 in “tier 2”, with Burgundy leading the way in terms of growth, Bordeaux is still the predominant region with 106 wines out of 332 in the overall classification. Italy is growing with 86 wines, compared to 65 in 2023, including 45 from Tuscany and 36 from Piedmont (3 wines from Veneto, and 1 each from Umbria and Abruzzo). Liv-Ex explains that this classification was compiled taking into account the average trading price for wines that were traded at least 12 times or more between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, and for at least five vintages of the same label. The first tier includes 66 wines from five countries, traded at over £2,839 per case of 12 bottles. The podium is dominated by the legendary Burgundy wines of Domaine de La Romanée-Conti, with, in order, Romanée-Conti, La Tache, and Richebourg, for Italy, the first of the best (9 labels in the top tier) is Barolo Monfortino Riserva by Giacomo Conterno, followed by Masseto (Frescobaldi group), 100% Sangiovese IGT Toscana by Soldera Case Basse, Brunello di Montalcino Riserva by Biondi-Santi, Barbaresco Sorì San Lorenzo by Gaja, Barolo Falletto Vigna Le Rocche by Bruno Giacosa, Barolo Monvigliero by Comm. G. B. Burlotto, Lodovico by Tenuta di Biserno, and Matarocchio by Guado al Tasso di Antinori. But there are many other big names in Italian wine in the rankings (complete, in depth). | |
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| | In a sunny year, with incessant heat and minimal rainfall, culminating in an early harvest, the 2022 Barolos express finesse and harmony, already balanced today, in an unmistakable interpretation of territorial authenticity. Here is a portrait of the 2022 vintage of Barolo from the municipality of Serralunga d’Alba, the world’s first municipal appellation, established over 30 years ago and now more distinctive than ever. Every year, producers gather for “Serralunga Day”, a preview event at Fontanafredda, where the first municipal Barolo was produced in 1988, vinifying Serralunga grapes separately, now owned by the Farinetti family. An opportunity to meet experts (with a study by “wine cartographer” Alessandro Masnaghetti), Masters of Wine, restaurateurs, and the media, as well as the producers of Brunello di Montalcino, for a comparison between the great Italian reds and a look at the future of the sector. | |
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| | | To the 39.8 million hectoliters of wine in cellars recorded at the end of July 2025, with the first bunches of the new harvest already picked, another 47.4 million hectoliters should be added, the result of the 2025 campaign, which is underway or will take place almost everywhere with healthy grapes and no particular problems, promising a very good or excellent vintage in almost all areas, with peaks of excellence. This is according to estimates by Assoenologi, Unione Italiana Vini (Uiv), and Ismea, presented in Rome at the Ministry of Agriculture. According to the data processed to date, therefore - always bearing in mind that everything can change quickly in the vineyard - production should increase by 8% on the 2024 harvest, bringing volumes back in line with the average of recent years, after two particularly poor vintages. This harvest confirms Italy's global leadership in terms of production volume, which is not particularly desirable at a time when the wine market appears to be in slow but structural decline. Italy is followed in the global ranking of European competitors by France (estimated at 37.4 million hectoliters) and Spain (with forecasts of 36.8 million hectoliters). Veneto remains the leader in Italy, with an estimated 12 million hectoliters of wine (in more detail). | |
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| | | The “fine living room” of Italian wine awards WineNews: for the “Merano WineFestival,” the best “Wine & Food Journalist Web” is director Alessandro Regoli, among “The WineHunter Stars” 2025, recognition for personalities who illuminate food and wine with their passion, dedication, and extraordinary commitment, conferred, with the tasting commissions, by Helmuth Köcher, patron of the event that will bring together the excellence of wine & food in Merano (November 7-11). | |
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| | This is an important recognition for Pasqua Vini, one of the most important wineries in Italy and Valpolicella, led by the Pasqua family, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2025. It is the 2024 “Impact Hot Prospects Award” from M. Shanken Communications, publisher of leading beverage industry magazines such as Wine Spectator, and for which it is “Emerging Brand of the Year”. This award is given to companies that have distinguished themselves for their performance in terms of sales growth, brand development, and marketing leadership in the US market (which, in the past, has gone to Italian wine companies such as Frescobaldi, Val d’Oca, Santa Margherita, Torresella, La Gioiosa, Cantina La Vis, and others). Pasqua Vini closed 2024 with growth (+6%) and consolidated revenues of €63.5 million, with an increase of almost 40% in the United States. | |
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| | Prestigious wineries such as Carpineto, Zaccagnini (Argea), and Travaglini are in the running for “European Winery of the Year”, along with Roberta Corrà, head of Gruppo Italiano Vini - Giv, the largest Italian wine reality, and Consorzio Italia del Vino (which brings together companies with a turnover of over €1.5 billion) and more: as always, there is a lot of Italy among the nominations for the 26th “Wine Enthusiast Wine Star Awards” of the famous American magazine “Wine Enthusiast” (all names in more detail). | |
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