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Issue 740 - June 30th - July 4th 2025 - Expressly created for 3696 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world | |
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| | | It continues to grow, and today it sets foot in Piedmont, the Oniwines project of the Veronesi family (born within the Oniverse group, which brings together companies such as Calzedonia, Intimissimi, Tezenis, Falconeri, and Signorvino, among others), continues to grow, adding Pico Maccario, one of the leading wineries in Monferrato and beyond, founded in 1997 by brothers Pico and Vitaliano Maccario, to Tenimenti Leone in the Alban Hills in Lazio, La Giuva in Valpolicella, Podere Guardia Grande in Sardinia, created from scratch by the Veronesi family, and Villabucci, the jewel of the Marche region and Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi (and awaiting the new winery that will open its doors in the Trentodoca area). | |
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| | Alcohol-free wine that “is not wine”, the consumption crisis that should not be dramatized, the issue of falling prices, starting with Bordeaux, which should not be dramatized if we go from 400 to 300 euros per bottle, while, obviously, it is more serious when we talk about wines that cost a few euros, where the margin is already very low: these are some of the many ideas put forward at WineNews, as is now customary, by Michel Rolland (the full text is available in more detail) who is, quite simply, the most influential oenologist of his time, who in sixty years of career as a leading figure has ennobled the role of the oenologist itself, and been at the forefront of the decades in which great wine has become the desire and symbol of the world’s elites, first from his Bordeaux, but also passing through California, Argentina, Chile, and Italy, with consultancies and collaborations such as those with Caprai, leader and authentic beacon of the Sagrantino di Montefalco territory, the wonderful Tenuta di Biserno in Bolgheri, which brought together the three Antinoris (Piero, Lodovico, and Ilaria, now run by Niccolò Marzichi Lenzi), or the new Bolgheri star, Tenuta del Nicchio owned by Lodovico Antinori and his daughter Sophia, or even those who have passed through realities such as Ornellaia and Masseto, now owned by the Frescobaldi family, also in Bolgheri. And so, starting from one of the topics of the moment, here are his thoughts on alcohol-free wine. “There’s a lot of talk about it, it’s a fad. The problem is that it’s not wine, and since it’s not wine, I’m not interested in it. It’s a soft drink, and I have to say that there are soft drinks that are much better than alcohol-free wine, so if we’re talking business, that’s one thing, but if you’re going to drink wine, it can’t be alcohol-free”. But Rolland is also blunt on the subject of the crisis in the sector. “It always happens in times of geopolitical instability. It may be that young people drink less alcohol, but they consume better quality wines, so for quality wine producers, it’s not a big problem. Vineyards are being uprooted, but only the less good ones, and I don’t see anything wrong with that. I don’t want to say that the situation is satisfactory, but I don’t think we are facing an insurmountable problem. Consumption is trending downward, but over 200 million hectoliters of wine are still consumed worldwide: there is still room for those who produce quality wines...”, says Rolland. | |
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| | Despite a struggling wine market, especially for red wines, Valpolicella, whose wines generate a turnover of €600 million, is holding steady and in balance. With a stable vineyard area of 8,621 hectares, 41% of which is “green”, between organic and integrated production, there has been a rebalancing between the different types: less Amarone (13.9 in 2024, -2.2% on 2023), less Ripasso (over 18 million bottles, -8%), more Valpolicella, the “freshest” and most versatile wine in the area (17 million bottles, +5%). This is according to the 2025 “Valpolicella annual report” by the Consorzio Vini Valpolicella, presented at the start of “Venezia Superiore” in recent days in the city of the Lagoon. | |
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| | | Overcoming the unfavorable economic conditions, hoping that the situation in the US, on the tariff front, will be resolved as soon as possible, or at least improve, by also stopping the granting of new authorizations for the planting of vineyards for one year, but also to implement a structural reform of Italian wine, intervening on legislation, starting with an update of the 2016 Consolidated Wine Law, to reduce production and keep pace with times when consumption is falling, and an excess of product would be very costly to manage, not to mention the risk of a collapse in prices. First and foremost, by lowering yields, but also by intervening in the designation system (529 between PDO and PGI, with the top 20 accounting for 80% of Italian wine), merging and rationalizing them. But also by intervening on the production front, modifying and simplifying the decree that gives access to the CMO Wine resources that Europe allocates to Italy. This is the perspective outlined by the UIV - Unione Italiana Vini, an association with over 800 members who together account for 85% of Italian wine exports, and submitted in recent days to the Minister of Agriculture, Francesco Lollobrigida, and the Minister of Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti, among others. | |
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| | | Promoting Sicily with a new, more “youthful” approach to communicating its wines and thanks to training among winegrowers. These are some of the points in the “Manifesto” of the Next Generation, a group of 26 producers under 40 working in family businesses, founded in Assovini Sicilia, with Gabriella Favara (Donnafugata) as president, Enrica Spadafora (Dei Principi di Spadafora) as vice president, and on the board Costante Planeta (Planeta), Serena Costanzo (Palmento Costanzo), Pietro Pollara (Principe di Corleone), Cristina Madaudo (Camporè), and Pierfilippo Marchello (Tenute Pellegrino). | |
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| | Tasting the barriques from the 2024 harvest of Vigna Gustava, on the slopes of the Castle of Grinzane Cavour, which belonged to Camillo Benso Count of Cavour and is the heart of the “Barolo en Primeur” project, gives a clear picture of a complex but fascinating vintage. A vintage that required attention, moderation, and great sensitivity both in the vineyard and in the cellar, and which today translates into defined, subtle, elegant wines. This was highlighted by the technical tasting involving journalists and professionals organized in Fubine, at Enosis Meraviglia, the headquarters of oenologist Donato Lanati, who has been involved in this charitable project since its inception. In four editions, the project has already raised and donated over €3.3 million to cultural, social, educational, and welfare initiatives. | |
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| | Fifteen Grand Gold Medals, 132 Gold Medals, 204 Silver Medals. This is Italy’s haul at the 32nd Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, in the 2025 “reds and whites” session, held in early June in China. The top award went to Ca’ Rugate’s Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Cima Caponiera Riserva 2018 (also awarded as Italian revelation), the Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Corte Volponi 2019 from Valerio Zenato, the Morellino di Scansano Riserva 2021 from Vignaioli del Morellino di Scansano, and the 1934 Sicilia Doc 2021 from Cva Canicatti. | |
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