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Issue 685 - June 10th - 14th 2024 - Expressly created for 4803 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world | |
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| | | A union in the sign of bien vivre, but also of a strategic vision that points overseas: the Franciacorta Consortium signs an exclusive partnership with the Michelin Guide, becoming “Sparkling Wine Partner” for the next three years in the Guide ceremonies in the United States, and sponsor of the “Sommelier of the Year Awards”. But it is also focusing on events aimed at consumers, such as “Franciacorta Restaurant Weeks”, which have seen made-in-Italy bubbles take center stage in top establishments in New York, Miami and Chicago. The U.S., with 12.4% of the total, is the third foreign market for Franciacorta, after Switzerland and Germany. | |
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| | If it is true that in politics agreements, strategies and alliances are very often born at the table, there is no doubt that the G7, the Summit of the Great of the Earth, in Puglia, could not enjoy a better scenario: starting from the location, the exclusive Borgo Egnazia, a concentrate of that Italian lifestyle that the world envies us. Even from the food & wine point of view, our country is ready to unleash its excellence: chef Massimo Bottura (Michelin three-starred with his Osteria Francescana, in Modena, elected best restaurant in the world in 2016 and 2018 by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants) has been summoned to cook for Biden, Macron & Co. and has paid homage to the great regional tradition with the “Come to Italy with me” menus. In the goblets the labels-symbols of Made in Italy enology: from bubbles - Ferrari’s Trentodoc, Bellavista’s Franciacorta and Villa Sandi’s Cartizze - to great reds, from Tenuta San Guido’s Sassicaia to Antinori’s Tignanello, from Fontodi’s Chianti Classico to Castello di Volpaia’s Chianti Classico, from Casanova di Neri’s Brunello di Montalcino to Ceretto’s Barolo, from Masi’s Amarone della Valpolicella to Boschetto Campacci’s Chianti Classico, and then the whites, from Jermann’s Vintage Tunina to Marisa Cuomo’s Fiorduva Furore, from Masciarelli’s Trebbiano d’Abruzzo to Argiolas’s Vermentino di Sardegna, passing through Valle Isarco’s Kerner Aristos and Donnafugata’s Ben Ryé. There was no shortage of Apulian wines, more than 30 labels, from Gianfranco Fino’s Primitivo Es to Bruno Vespa’s Donna Augusta. On the table the best ingredients of Italy, a vast heritage of more than 900 excellences enclosed in the Atlante Qualita-Treccani, which Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida wanted to pay homage to the Heads of State. The convivial side started on Thursday, with a dinner hosted by President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella in Brindisi’s Castello Svevo and a toast with “Annamaria Clementi” 2015 from Ca’ del Bosco. The curiosity: the world leaders received a bottle of Giulio Ferrari Riserva del Fondatore 2012 as a gift, except for those for whom the protocol does not include alcohol, who received a selection of Tassoni labels. Because in Italy even Cedrata becomes an excellence. | |
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| | District logic proves increasingly successful. Intesa Sanpaolo’s Monitor of Italian agrifood districts says so once again, with the 2023 final balance counting nearly 27 billion euros in sales on foreign markets and a progress of 4.5%, 1.2 billion more than the previous year. The only supply chain that shows a slightly negative sign (-0.7%) is that of wine, which nevertheless remains the most important in terms of value (6.5 billion euros). Among the districts (the “ranking” in more detail), by far, the most “valuable” is confirmed to be that of the Wines of Langhe, Roero and Monferrato, with 2 billion euros of exports (-4.4%), ahead of that of the Desserts of Alba and Cuneo, with 1.8 billion euros (+5%), and that of the Food of Parma, at 1.6 billion euros (+15.7%), on the podium. | |
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| | | Italian wine bigwigs expect +2.6% sales growth for 2024, and +3% for exports. Optimism continues for sparkling wines (+3.7% revenues), especially across borders (+6.8% exports), while still wines are expected to grow +2.3% (+2.2% exports). After all, 2023 ended without much change (-0.2% on 2022), slightly down in the domestic market (-0.7%) compared to the foreign market (+0.3%). Ebit margin increased 1.4% over 2022, with a net income to sales ratio of 4.2%. And despite a 4.5% decrease in quantities sold across all channels, and inflation that eroded household purchasing power penalizing mid-range wines (-10.1% on 2022). Slightly down on the low end (-1.7%), in the face of an increasingly premium (+12.7%) and sustainable (+1.4% organic) market. This is according to the Survey on the Wine Sector in Italy by the Mediobanca Study Area, of 253 leading Italian corporations with 2022 turnover of more than 20 million euros and aggregate revenues of 11.8 billion. Among them, best performer in 2023 sales remains the Cantine Riunite-Civ group, followed by Argea and Italian Wine Brands. Looking at profitability, 2023 sees Tuscan Frescobaldi leading the way, then Santa Margherita and Antinori. | |
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| | | $325,000 to fund the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation’s “Mind’s Eye” program, which provides access to art for the blind or visually impaired: that’s how much was donated from the proceeds of the auction of Ornellaia Vendemmia d’Artista 2021’s large-format “La Generosità”, featuring Marinella Senatore’s labels, auctioned at Sotheby’s in recent days. That adds to the more than $2.5 million that one of the most important and longest-running wine patronage projects (this is edition No. 16) has already donated to cultural institutions around the world. | |
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| | Despite a slowdown, which is rather evident, Italian wine exports remain positive in the first three months of 2024, reaching 1.84 billion euros, +3.8% over the same period in 2023 for 506.6 million liters (+3.2%). This is confirmed by Istat data analyzed by WineNews: after the “sprint” start in January, in the following two months the drop was felt even if there is no shortage of encouraging signs, however, coming from the markets, from North America to Europe via Asia with a real boom, in triple digits, from Russia. But, in spite of this, the first negative balances are also arriving from historical partners, Germany in the first place, but also France, which leave, inevitably, questions for the months to come. | |
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| | The versatility of the appellation today is a strong point. But for the future it will be necessary to better define a more precise identity, around a few types of wine. This is, in a nutshell, the route plotted for the Garda Doc (which has gone from 6.1 to 18.6 million bottles produced from 2017 to 2023), according to the research (in more detail) commissioned by the Consortium of the appellation that revolves around Lake Garda, curated by Eugenio Pomarici’s team from the Center for Research in Viticulture and Enology of the University of Padua. | |
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