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Issue 636 - July 3rd - 7th 2023 - Expressly created for 4.552 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world |
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After the drought, now it is the consequences of the incessant rains that fell in May and June that are worrying winemakers in Italy, which have created the perfect conditions for the proliferation of downy mildew, which has taken root practically everywhere. Difficult to make estimates, although the Observatory of Unione Italiana Vini (Uiv) speaks of losses for the next harvest campaign of up to 40%. “The pre-harvest season had started well, then from May the situation turned bad. We went from the problem of excess stocks to a scenario of probable reduction in harvested volumes”, says Uiv president Lamberto Frescobaldi. |
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It is not so much the drought that makes Italian viticulture tremble, but the excesses of a climate that is increasingly difficult to predict, the consequences of which-both short-term and long-term-are likely to prove dramatic. Thus, after the record heat of 2022, it is now the consequences of the incessant rains that fell in May and June that worry winemakers in Italy. First of all, Downy mildew, which, as three of the greatest international experts on the subject - University of Milan professors Attilio Scienza and Leonardo Valenti and Adriano Zago, a point of reference in biodynamic viticulture - told WineNews, has found the perfect climate to take root, especially in the Adriatic regions (Puglia, Abruzzo and Molise), but the presence is also important in Basilicata, Umbria, Lazio and Tuscany, while the northern Italian regions seem destined to pay a lower price. It is difficult, at the moment, to make precise estimates, although the Observatory of Unione Italiana Vini (Uiv), speaks of losses for the next harvest campaign of up to 40%, with organic viticulture being severely compromised in some areas. “Doing a quick reconnaissance of the Italian vineyard, where there has been a failure to treat at the right time conditions are disastrous, it will be difficult to harvest even a single bunch of grapes”, warns Leonardo Valenti, professor of viticulture at the University of Milan. Taking a step back, Downy mildew, as Professor Attilio Scienza, one of the world’s leading experts in viticulture and enology, explains, “initially only caused damage to the leaves, but now we are seeing the first desiccation of the bunches. The fungus entered the cluster during flowering, has been dormant for a few weeks and will become very conspicuous at veraison, when the real damage count will be done”. As mentioned, the moment is complicated, but according to Adriano Zago, “there are no big differences between vineyard management systems-organic, biodynamic or conventional-the difference is between winemakers who have worked well and winemakers who have failed. On the use of copper there is enough margin to work well, today we manage to have good defenses with 150 grams of copper per hectare” (in more detail). |
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From distribution to production activities, the step is no small one: yet it represents an irresistible temptation for some companies that, following a logic of investment and diversification, decide to buy vineyards and wineries. The latest is Compagnia dei Caraibi Spa - a leading company in the import, development, brand building and distribution of spirits, wines and soft drinks from around the world - which has just bought 8 hectares of farmland in the Langhe, in the municipality of Montelupo Albese, worth 670,000 euros, with the aim of producing its own wines in the near future. But in the past, the same path (recounted in more detail) has been taken by giants such as the Meregalli Group, a leader in the trade of great wines, spirits and Champagne, and Signorvino, a chain of wine shops owned by the Veronesi family. |
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“Nature is a word that is very often misused. Meanwhile, wine cannot be called natural, and the EU has prevented it from being written on bottles. Natural can be the wild vine, and a strawberry or a truffle in the woods, while anything that man has cultivated is no longer natural. That is why we will compare it with the word “naturalness”. Which means making a wine using the resources that nature gives us, saving them, and knowledge, with an enology of enhancement and not intervention. Which must also be known how to communicate, and which must be the basis of the marketing image”. Reflecting on the words, to WineNews, of Attilio Scienza, among the leading experts in viticulture, is the goal of edition no. 6 of the “Summer School” of “Sanguis Jovis”, the Alta Scuola sul Sangiovese of the Banfi Foundation, the first permanent Study Center on the most cultivated grape variety in Italy, which returns to Montalcino (July 10-14), around the theme “Sangiovese phygital: The Impact of Technology from the Vineyard to the Metaverse”, with lectures, case studies, visits and face-to-face discussions with the protagonists of the course - including WineNews, in the “faculty” of this edition - to explore the different ways through which digitization will change the future of Sangiovese, combining land and technology. |
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In 2022, the monumental Antinori in Chianti Classico was elected as the world’s best winery. To know who will be the “World’s Best Vineyards 2023” we will have to wait until July 12, when the “Top 50” will be revealed. But already in positions 100 to 51, there is no shortage of absolutely prestigious Italian wineries. Like Villa Sandi, a Palladian-style marvel and one of the most important names in Prosecco, at No. 54. And also, Tenuta San Leonardo, Donnafugata, Tenuta Cavalier Pepe, Castello Banfi and Ferrari Trento. |
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100 years is not a few years to celebrate, especially for a body such as the OIV - International Organization of Vine and Wine, which, over the years, has been and is fundamental to the development and dissemination of wine culture and market, thanks to the development of internationally shared solutions in the analysis and production of wine itself. And now, among the many activities that its president, Professor Luigi Moio, is putting in place to celebrate the century of life that occurs in 2024, the “Centenary Cuvèe” is also born, which is also linked to one of the names that have most marked the history of scientific research related to wine, such as Louis Pasteur, born 1822 in Dole, France, and considered the “father” of modern enology (in more detail). |
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As promised at the “Chianti Classico Collection” in February 2023, as of July 1, the 11 Additional Geographical Units (San Casciano, Montefioralle, Panzano, San Donato in Poggio, Castellina, Vagliagli, Greve, Lamole, Radda, Gaiole and Castelnuovo Berardenga) can be used in “Gran Selezione” labels, the qualitative summit of the Black Rooster, which, in addition, sees Sangiovese go from 80% to a minimum of 90% of its ampelographic base. So much, in fact, the changes to the Chianti Classico regulation, approved and published in the Official Gazette, provide. |
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