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Issue 737 - June 9th - 13th 2025 - Expressly created for 3692 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world | |
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| | | An extraordinary journey in refined vintage cars through some of the most evocative areas of Italy: the “1000 Miglia” returns 2025 (June 17-21), the “most beautiful race in the world,” renewing its partnership with Franciacorta sparkling wines, which are confirmed as the event's “Official Sparkling Wine,” accompanying the most significant moments of the race. The wines will be present in all the departure and arrival lounges, welcoming guests, partners, and participants. This partnership confirms the marketing strategy of the Franciacorta Consortium, based on a winning mix of luxury, glamour, celebrities, and exceptional partnerships. | |
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| | Addressing crucial issues in the world of wine with a practical approach, ideas, shared reflections, and effective actions: these are the objectives of the summit “Envisioning2035 Wine (R)evolution - Strategic Plan for Italian Wine”, the same title as the first Manifesto of the entire Italian wine industry, which was launched in recent days in Milan, promoted by FreedL Group, the Italian family-run multinational company founded by Edoardo Freddi in 2018, which invests and grows in the food & beverage world and also includes Edoardo Freddi International, one of the most advanced Italian companies dedicated to exports, working with over 60 wineries, and Ettore Nicoletto, a long-time manager in the wine world and one of the authors, in recent years, of the think tank “Vision 20/30”. A summit that brought together Italian and international experts, institutions, and entrepreneurs to analyze trends and critical issues in the sector, with the aim of defining shared strategies to strengthen the competitiveness of Italian wine globally: experts in the alcohol sector such as Danny Brager, in legislation such as Gabriele Castelli (Federvini), Roberta Crivellaro, and Luca Ferrari (Withers), economists such as Vladi Finotto and Christine Mauracher (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice), and Denis Pantini (Nomisma/Wine Monitor), in wine tourism such as Roberta Garibaldi, in communication such as Priscilla Hennekam, Robert Joseph, and Fabio Piccoli (“Wine Meridian”), and in business culture with Alessandro Mutinelli (Italian Wine Brands). The “Envisioning2035 Manifesto” was presented for the occasion, a strategic document for the development of the sector which, through the analysis of areas of weakness and improvement, aims to develop and offer direct measures and proposals to make the Italian wine system more competitive and efficient. According to Edoardo Freddi, “it is not enough to produce excellent wine. You have to know how to communicate it, sell it, and adapt to a changing world. You need strategic vision, collaboration between companies, and investment in human capital. In this context, five priority areas for action have been identified: product innovation, opening up to new markets, evolution of distribution channels, aggregation between companies, and enhancement of human capital”. | |
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| | A week-long experience at Marchesi Antinori’s Tuscan estates, a visit to Stag’s Leap, the Californian winery of the historic Italian wine family, and various wines, offered by Antinori Napa Valley and Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, sold for $550,000; a blending session, a “farm-to-table” lunch in Napa, and a stay on the private Caribbean island of Mustique, donated by Alpha Omega and Bouchaine Vineyards, sold for $425,000; a five-night tour of Japan and an event in Napa, donated by Kenzo Estate, sold for $180,000. These are some of the dream lots from the 2025 Napa Valley Auction, the 45th edition of the annual charity auction, promoted by Napa Valley Vintners and held in recent days by Sotheby’s, which raised $6.5 million (+35% on 2024), thanks in part to Italian wine. | |
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| | | With entrepreneurial spirit, Italian wine producers have long been conquering vineyards across borders, from the New World to Old Europe, and in particular in areas where vineyards are competitively priced and markets offer good potential. This is the path taken by Fantini Wines, a leading wine export group from southern Italy (owned by Platinum Equity, with a record EBITDA of 27.5% and a 2024 turnover of €84 million), which recently acquired the former Venta la Vega, a prestigious and technologically advanced boutique winery in Castilla-La Mancha, one of the most suitable but also least known regions, at an altitude of 1,200 meters at the foot of the El Mugrón mountains, where the largest Garnacha Tintorera plantation in Europe is located, with very old vines. The goal is to increase Iberian production tenfold over a decade and improve its quality. The group has been in Castile since 2021 with Finca Fella, the brand into which the new acquisition will be integrated. Finca Fella currently produces just over 1 million bottles, which could increase to 10 million. Considering that Fantini produces 22-23 million bottles - destined for over 90 countries - in 10 years, the Spanish subsidiary could become the group’s largest company. | |
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| | | From Tuscany to California in the name of Made in Italy, between great wines and music: Andrea Bocelli, the world’s most famous tenor, brings the labels of his Bocelli1831 winery in Lajatico to Napa Valley for an exclusive event, “Bocelli’s Weekend in Napa” (June 20-22), which combines a VIP dinner, private concerts, a charity auction, and the precious limited edition of a new wine, “Andrea Bocelli 2023 Sentinel Ridge Estate Cabernet Sauvignon”, in magnum format and complete with autograph. | |
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| | The rapid start in January 2025 was predictable, as was the slowdown in February, and it is certainly no surprise that Italian wine exports also fell in March, “cooled” by figures from the United States, which are still positive but may be running out of steam after the rush to buy before the arrival of duties. Nevertheless, Italian wine exports in March 2025 remain positive in terms of value but negative in terms of volume. Istat data analyzed by WineNews show €1.85 billion worldwide (+0.9% over the first three months of 2024), but a sharp decline from January (+7.5%) and February (+3.6%) 2025. Volumes fell to 492,745,658 liters (-2.7%). Sparkling wines also seem to be showing signs of “fatigue”: €495.5 million in March 2025, +0.57% on a year ago, but in February it was +4.5%. | |
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| | An Italian wine giant, with over 1,600 hectares of vineyards and 14 wineries in Italy’s most renowned wine-growing regions, Gruppo Italiano Vini - Giv recently acquired 100% of the shares in Tenute Rapitalà, in Sicily, of which it had already held a majority stake since 1999, becoming the sole shareholder by purchasing the remaining 10% of shares from the De la Gatinais family. Founded in 1968, the estate now consists of 176 hectares of organically farmed vineyards in the area that stretches from Camporeale, in the Palermo area, down to Alcamo. | |
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