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Issue 646 - September 11th - 15th 2023 - Expressly created for 4591 wine lovers, professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world | |
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| | | The estimated drop in production for the 2023 Italian harvest is -12% compared to 2022, for 44 million hectoliters, is not dramatic. But if the North holds up, with -2% in Piedmont, for example, and even grows, with +5% in Veneto and +15% in Lombardy, for example, from the Center to the South the data are decidedly worse: it ranges from -4.5% in Emilia Romagna to -20% in Tuscany and Lazio, from -25% in Marche to -30% in Sicily and Puglia, to -40% in Abruzzo, with a situation that places great difficulties especially for winemakers: this is the summary picture that emerges from the estimates of the Unione Italiana Vini (Uiv), Ismea and Assoenologi. | |
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| | The difficulties of the market, in Italy and in the world, climate change, the structural decline in consumption, the strength of the “anti-alcohol” lobbies and not only (starting with the Irish regulations), the “Italian vineyard” to be modernized to make it perhaps less productive in volume and more in quantity and profitability, the DOC system to be rationalized, the regulations to be completed, from the issue of the national sustainability certification standard that has been “in its final stages” for years but stopped, to the one on alcohol-free and low-alcohol wines, already framed in the EU and implemented by many EU countries, but not by Italy: going beyond the estimates of a 2023 grape harvest, there were many issues put on the table (analised in more details) by representatives of the supply chain, Italian and European, in the Cavour Room of the Ministry of Agriculture, with Minister Lollobrigida absent due to other concomitant institutional commitments, as part of the presentation of the 2023 grape harvest forecasts. “The sector is experiencing a situation in the clear dark”, said Lamberto Frescobaldi, president of Unione Italiana Vini, “but the sector has to look ahead with calmness and entrepreneurship. There will be less production, but the quality is all there to date. Because, let’s remember, everything can change in the coming weeks, the forecast tells us that rain and hail will come, and let's hope they are wrong. But this lower production, which I hope will be confirmed at the end of the harvest”, Frescobaldi provoked, “has taken away from us this wooden medal of European production supremacy, which, however, was not in value. We gladly leave it to France. We have to work better so that they increase the unit values of the grapes, because there is a part of the vineyard whose work is not remunerated, and if you do not pay the vintners well, they abandon the vineyard.” On the importance of growth in value, and on the many potentials still to be grasped for Italian wine, through science and study, and with planning that is still lacking, talked also the president of Assoenologi, Riccardo Cotarella, who in such a complex phase also launched a positive message: “let’s remember that wine has always been saved in the end, and will be saved again”. | |
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| | On November 14th, in Franciacorta, it will rain stars again.
Those of Italian restaurants assigned by the Michelin Guide n. 69, which
further strengthens the now historic relationship with the Lombardy region, a
symbol of excellence of the Italian classic method sparkling wine. It will once
again be a location in the territory which, for years, has been a “destination
partner” of Michelin, and which now, thanks to the Franciacorta Consortium, led
by Silvano Brescianini, will also sign the “Best Italian Sommelier Award” (the prerogative,
over the past years, of the Consortium del Brunello di Montalcino, ed.) to host
the “Star Revelation” n. 69 of the “Red”. To find out whether there will be new
entries or “falls” from the Olympus of Italian catering which, today, has 385
starred establishments (335 One Star, 38 Two Stars and 12 Three Stars). | |
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| | | Ca’ del Bosco, the iconic brand of Franciacorta, led by Maurizio Zanella, is among the shortlist of candidate wineries for the “European Winery of the Year” of the “Wine Star Awards” n. 24 of the Wine Enthusiast, one of the most coveted wine awards, assigned in February 2024. However, it is not the only nomination for Italian wine, which has five in total lined up. Starting from the Lambrusco area, which after oblivion is now experiencing a rebirth, among the candidates for “Wine Region of the Year”. After the 2022 nomination, Pasqua Vigneti e Cantine, the Valpolicella brands in the running for the “Innovator of the Year” award, because it is exactly the ability to innovate that distinguishes – as we read in the motivations of “Wine Enthusiast” - the work of CEO Riccardo Pasqua. Lamberto Frescobaldi, at the helm of Marchesi Frescobaldi is among the nominees for “Social Visionary of the Year”, for his social project dedicated to the inmates of the prison island of Gorgona, a penal colony close to the Tuscan coast where prisoners work among the Vermentino vineyards. Finally, Alessio Planeta, among the protagonists of Sicily’s wine Renaissance, leading a group that includes six wineries across the island, competing in the prestigious “Winemaker of the year” category. | |
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| | | Drinking wine, while observing the unique panorama of the Dolomites, between snow-capped and steep peaks: on 13 and 14 October at the Rifugio Maria, on Sass Pordoi, “Top Wine 2950”, the highest tasting in the world, by the Società Incremento Turistico Canazei. With a breathtaking view of the Marmolada and the Sassolungo, the Tofane and the Pale di San Martino, in the glass there will be the best of Trentino Alto Adige and Valpolicella, with names such as Kurtatsch, St. Pauls, Castelfeder, Franz Haas, Mezzacorona-Rotari, Pojer and Sandri, San Leonardo and Tommasi. | |
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| | For the “Civiltà Veneta” the internationally famous
lexicographer Mario Cannella, the hydraulic engineer Andrea Rinaldo, recently
awarded the “Stockholm Water Prize”, and the Stevanato Group, a leading Venetian
manufacturer of glass containers for medicines, were awarded. The “Civiltà del
Vino Award” is given to two Japanese authors, Yuko and Shin Kibayashi, creators
of manga “The Drops of God” about wine culture. Finally, the “Grosso d’Oro
Veneziano” will be awarded to Iranian director Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, who has
been active in the fight to promote democracy and women’s civil rights. Here
are the Masi Award n. 42 winners, who will sign the iconic barrel of Amarone
della Valpolicella on October 27th, in the winery led by Sandro Boscaini,
personalities who, due to their skills and experience, best interpret the
common thread “Roots and Perspectives”. | |
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| | Liv-ex shows no signs of recovery, and its now long downward trend continues in August 2023. Firstly, Liv-ex 100, the index that monitors the performance of the 100 most traded labels and which, has lost 10.3% since the beginning of the year, dragged down by -1.3% in August 2023. Only nine wines showed positive performance, including Ornellaia 2019 of Frescobaldi (+6,5%), Giacosmo Conterno Barolo Monfortino Riserva 2013 (+5,8%) e Masseto 2018 of Frescobaldi (+0,6%). As for regional indices, the Italy 100 is the one that has been able to respond best to the difficulties limiting losses to -4.3%. | |
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