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Issue 615 - February 6th - 10th 2023 - Expressly created for 4.446 wine lovers, professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world |
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Soon the Illy group’s Polo del Gusto will return to the world of wine: “we are in advanced negotiations for an acquisition in Barolo, Piedmont”. This was confirmed to WineNews by Riccardo Illy, president of the holding company that groups together all the family group’s non-coffee activities, such as Piedmontese chocolate Domori (which, for five years, will distribute, exclusively in Italy, the Champagne Barons de Rothschild, ed.), French tea Dammann Frères, and more. Which is looking to the future after the sale of Mastrojanni, the Brunello di Montalcino brand, to Francesco Illy, a former owner in the territory of Podere Le Ripi, (interview in detail). |
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Among the great denominations and the small oenological pearls, the wines of the hills and of the coast, between territories where Sangiovese dominates and others where success is found in Bordeaux varieties, Tuscany has a unique wine wealth to offer, linked to some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. A combination of quality and beauty that flies on global markets, so that, the Region’s wine exports exceeded 939 million euros in the first nine months of 2022, up +15.1% on the same period in 2021, according to Istat data analyzed by WineNews. A growth that, it must be mentioned, is more related to inflation than to an increase in the quantity sold. Reading that, at the start of the “Week of Tuscan Wine Previews”, which is opening in Florence with “Buy Wine” - finds comfort looking at the numbers of Avito, the association that brings together the Consortiums of Tuscan wine denominations, according to which the Region, in 2022, placed 2.01 million hl of DOP and IGP wine on the market, 5% less than in 2021. The figure that, it should be noted, is influenced by the production volume of the various vintages as well as market demands, but which, in any case, represents a quantitative cross-section that should not be underestimated. Among those with positive results, the Toscana IGT, which, with 724,107 hl placed on the market, between 1 January and 31 December 2022 (36% of regional total) reached a growth of +3% on 2021. The same growth, but starting from a much smaller base, was achieved by Bolgheri (57,045 hl), Rosso di Montalcino (35,090 hl), and Orcia (1,990 hl). The Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is slightly better in percentage terms, at +5%, with 53,697 hl, followed by the Rosso di Montepulciano, at +6%, with 20,805 hl. The +35% of Montecucco is exponential in percentage terms, however, it stops at 8,040 hl, where the happy notes end in quantity. All the other Tuscan denominations, in terms of the volume placed on the market, showed a decline in 2022. They range from -15% of Chianti (with 615,506 hl, is worth 30% of the Tuscan wine offer) to -14% of Brunello di Montalcino, passing to -11% of Morellino di Scansano and -6 % of Vernaccia di San Gimignano while Chianti Classico defends itself, at -4% (for 272,440 hl, 13.5% of the total), and Maremma Toscana is close to parity, at -1%. |
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Federvini calls for a “coalition of countries against any discrimination of alcoholic beverages” led by Italy; Paolo de Castro, a member of the Agriculture Commission of the EU Parliament, stresses that the game is now goes from Brussels to Geneva (WTO hq), and that international alliances are needed, starting with the USA; the Minister of Agriculture, Lollobrigida (it must be the Carnival period), throws it on the irony, with a social photo-parody, with the inscription “wine seriously harms the health of those who do not drink it”: these are some of the reactions (in more detail) to the regulation on “health warnings” on labels sent to the WTO by Ireland. Of which the indirect consequences are mainly feared, since the direct economic damage would be negligible, in a market, the Irish one, which for Italian wine, in 2021, was worth 40 million euros out of 7 billion in total exports.
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The secondary market for fine wines, as constantly monitored by the Liv-ex, the benchmark index for anyone wishing to invest in wine, begins 2023 in the same way it ended 2022: a 1.4% decline in January 2023 for the Liv-ex 100, the worst monthly decline since November 2015. Furthermore, like every year, January is the month that records new entries and exits from the various indices, and the Liv-ex 100 has undergone a significant transformation in this regard with adjustments also on the Italian front: with the exit of il Barolo Monvigliero 2016 Comm. G. B. Burlotto e il Soldera Case Basse 2016, replaced by Redigaffi 2019 Tua Rita and Barolo Falletto Vigna Le Rocche Riserva 2016 Bruno Giacosa. In the Italy 100, the sub-index dedicated to the ten Italian wines, with the last ten vintages on the market, the most requested and traded, are confirmed the Barolo Bartolo Mascarello, the Barbaresco Gaja, the Barolo Monfortino Riserva Giacomo Conterno, the Masseto and the Ornellaia by Frescobaldi, the Sassicaia Tenuta San Guido, the Solaia and the Tignanello by Antinori. Instead, Barolo Francia Giacomo Conterno and Soldera Case Basse are replaced by Barolo Falletto Vigna Le Rocche Riserva Bruno Giacosa and Flaccianello della Pieve Fontodi. |
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“Proportion” is the key character of Ornellaia’s 2020 vintage, featured in “Ornellaia Vendemmia d’Artista” No. 15. A project of high patronage, which, over the years, has distributed more than $2.3 million to leading cultural institutions and museum foundations such as the Solomon R.Guggenheim Foundation, which will be a partner for the coming years as well. To transform the values of the 2020 vintage of one of Italy’s greatest and most celebrated wines into art, the US artist, Joseph Kosuth, among the leading exponents and theorists of conceptual art, has been called upon. |
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While the Unesco Intangible Heritage nomination of the appassimento technique for grapes continues its process, Valpolicella is evolving towards a younger and increasingly sustainable identity, strong with now solid economic stability (more than 600 million euros in wine-related turnover) and a globally recognized prestige. Extreme synthesis of a territory that celebrated, with “Amarone Opera Prima 2023”, the 2018 vintage of Amarone. In the glass the wines of 64 wineries, which tell of a style clearly increasingly inclined toward greater drinkability, as WineNews will have the opportunity to tell in the monograph of “I Quaderni di WineNews” dedicated precisely to Amarone della Valpolicella, to be published at the end of February 2023. And as emerges from our best tastings (in more detail). |
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The wines of the Langhe, with Barolo leading the way and all other variations of Nebbiolo, starting with Barbaresco, have the wind in their sails. Looking at the king of Piedmont wines, “in 2021 we made +21% on 2020, putting 16 million bottles on sale, with some old vintages. In 2022 we are back to 14 million. That’s two years we end up with empty cellars. The appellation is in balance, and basically that’s what we wanted”, So says Matteo Ascheri, president of the Consortium of Barolo and Barbaresco, from “Grandi Langhe 2023” (in more detail). |
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