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Issue 625 - April 17th - 21st 2023 - Expressly created for 4470 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world |
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Where were we? At the record for Italian wine exports, which closed 2022 at nearly 8 billion euros. And the figures of January 2023 exactly follow the trend of January 2022, with exports that, in value, stop at 474.8 million euros, of which 124.5 million euros of sparkling wines, as revealed by the latest Istat data analyzed by WineNews. The result, difficult to interpret, is in line with a year ago, when there was a certain enthusiasm dictated by the return to normalcy after the pandemic, but lower than the January 2020 figure (in more detail). |
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Over the past several years, on the global level, the wine produced (260 million hectoliters the estimates of the International Organization of Vine and Wine for 2022) has been much more than wine consumed (236 million hectoliters). And therefore, there is too much wine, or rather, more supply than demand. Generic discourse, which obviously does not apply to all territories in the world, with some of the most famous ones having no market problems (with the exception of Bordeaux, as often told in recent months). In any case, France, through FranceAgrimer, has requested crisis distillation for 2.5 million hectoliters. And Spain has also received a request from the Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias de España for the distillation of 3 million hectoliters. Among the big names, only Italy has not (yet) asked for distillation. Although exports did not grow in volume in 2022, sales in large-scale distribution decreased in quantity, and stocks, as at 31 March 2023, were up 5.1% on 2022 (60 million hectoliters). A set of numbers which, logically, tell of a production system which, as mentioned, sees some territories and some companies running on the markets, sees other districts in a far from brilliant form. Nobody, officially, is unbalanced. But the feeling that some difficulties, in some less noble denominations, are about to arrive is clear, experienced firsthand at ProWein in Dusseldorf and at Vinitaly in Verona, in hundreds of meetings and chats that the WineNews staff has had with many producers, and also confirmed by many studies which, especially on large-scale consumption, with the purchasing power of families falling and inflation continuing to be high, see wines, especially “entry level”, at risk of cutting. Why didn’t Italy ask for distillation, then? According to rumors collected by WineNews, it is because today if there are difficulties in some territories, there is not a generic difficulty at a national level; and then, the resources available would be meager and not decisive, even for a choice (so far rewarding) made on the wine CMO, with most of the European funds destined to support investments and promotion, but also to not give the La to a drop in prices, especially of common wines (but not only), which are already not experiencing a thriving moment (in more detail).
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Italian wine exports, in 2022, confirmed the United States as the first destination, capable of billing as much as 1.86 billion euros (Istat data), just under a quarter of all Italian wine exports, which closed the year at 7.87 billion euros. Not far from the total wine imports in the USA in the same period, which reached 6.68 billion euros (+3.7% on 2021), for a total of 1.43 billion liters (+3.3%), and an average price of 4.64 euros per liter (+0.4%), as emerges from the data of the OEMV - Observatorio Español del Mercado del Vino (in more detail). |
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Having overcome the resistance and doubts that have emerged in recent weeks, particularly among wine consortiums in Italy and the rest of Europe concerned about a possible loss of wine specificity, the text that reforms the European Union’s system of geographical indications received unanimous approval today from the Agriculture Commission in Strasbourg. Now, the procedure calls for a discussion in the plenary session of the European Parliament before summer, followed by three meetings (Parliament, Commission, and Council) within the year to definitively approve the new single European text on quality productions. The key points of the reform are the presence of wine within the reform; the obligation to indicate on the label of PDO and PGI products the name of the producer and, for PGI products, the origin of the main raw material; the clarification of traditional mentions (such as Prosek) which cannot be registered because they evoke PDO or PGI; the role of Euipo, which will be strictly advisory; the confirmation comes from the Directorate General for Agriculture of the Commission; the simplification of the rules for registering and modifying production specifications (in more detail the comments of Paolo De Castro, spokesman for the new measures, Uiv - Unione Italiana Vini and Federvini). |
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Although linked to territories rich in tradition, the world of wine has never been immune to market dynamics. Today, we are experiencing an interesting process: the return of white wines, in the wake of a global change, driven by Climate Change, which pushes consumers to look with greater interest at white wines. From the glass to the vineyard, confirming how things are destined to change rapidly, there is the point of view of Eugenio Sartori, director of Vivai Cooperativi Rauscedo, the largest nursery in the world (in more detail). |
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In recent years, Georgia, historically considered the cradle of world viticulture, has been pushing hard on the promotion and enhancement of its peculiarities. And now, the former Soviet Union country, where grapevines have been cultivated since the Neolithic period, raises the bar again by calling on Italian wine, with some of its most famous representatives. Namely, Riccardo Cotarella, president of Assoenologi, and his team, with Pier Paolo Chiasso, director of the “Cotarella & Chiasso”, and the Cooperativa Vivai Rauscedo. Thanks to the will of two Georgian entrepreneurs, Bacho Bugdiashvili and Vato Otkhmezuri. The project will give life to a new experimentation on the typical vines of the area, above all Saperavi and Rhatsiteli, but also other varieties such as Kisi, Mtsvane, Khikhvi, Alexandrouli, and Mugiuretuli. In collaboration with the University of Tbilisi.
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If the wines of the 131 Châteaux of the Union des Grands Crus are the absolute protagonists of the “Semaine des Primeurs”, from 20 to 27 April, in Bordeaux there is also a touch of Italy. Thanks to Michel Rolland, the most influential oenologist of our times, signature of many of the greatest wines of Bordeaux, but also of Italy, such as Ornellaia, Masseto, Biserno and Caprai. And the wines of Caprai and Biserno will be among the protagonists of “le Primeurs Étoiles”, an event within the event, taking place from 24 to 27 April 2023, at Château La Dominique (in more detail). |
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