If this message is not displayed correctly click here
|
Issue 507 - January 11th - 15th 2021 - Expressly created for 11.897 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Closed at home, confined in our Regions, limited in the movements and bound to a traffic light system in order to know when we can and when we cannot go out to eat, imagining a romantic weekend out of the city, in one of the many wine territories that Belpaese can offer, often very close to home, becomes difficult. Dreaming, however, costs nothing, planning even less, and then a good glass, or mouthful, of optimism, is what we need. “Decanter” has it in spades and in its February issue suggests four destinations, among which Etna, for a trip to discover Nerello Mascalese, from Tenuta di Fessina to Benanti. |
|
|
|
|
It has not been a defeat, as everyone had feared between April and May 2020, when many wine producers from all over Italy hypothesized that 2020 would close at less than 40% in turnover. However, this year of the pandemic has been very tough on Italian wineries. The WineNews Survey 2020 included over 35 of the topmost Italian wineries for strength of their brand, size, turnover, history and presence around the world, which together totaled a turnover of more than 2.5 billion euros (2019 data), and here are the results. For the most part, the end-of-year balance sheets that are being drawn up in these hours, at first glance, register declines ranging from -10% to -20%, with very few exceptions, both better (some wineries registered a decline of -8%, while there were some companies fluctuating a lot abroad and a historical presence on multiple channels, including modern distribution, which are declaring a maximum growth of + 7%). Then, there are the worst ones (in very few, extreme cases, reaching -30%, especially for those companies focused on HORECA, hospitality in the winery and catering concentrated in the big art cities, which have seen a collapse in both international and Italian tourism). Consumption, overall, in volume, has been stable, to the detriment of values. In the vast majority of cases, exports “saved” the balance of Italian wine. This was true in monopoly markets, such as Canada or Scandinavia, as well as all those where the difference between the HORECA channel and modern distribution, in terms of overall offer, is definitely less manifest and polarized than in Italy. Another critical element that has emerged clear and strong is the multi-channel approach. This had been an organic and historicized strategy for only a few, and has become an obligatory choice for many, with a particular eye to e-commerce. To have limited the damages for producers was also the forced stop to travels and events which, if on one hand has complicated a work made of meetings, tastings, fairs, on the other hand, has brought considerable savings. Essential is the brand: the wineries that have resisted better are those with historical brands, well positioned, known and above all reassuring. What hurts the most is the great crisis of catering, of banquets, and the collapse of leisure and business travels. |
|
|
|
|
Among the few but important certainties that 2020 left to wine, it is that people did not give up on a good glass of wine even in pandemic times, despite everything. With Americans who, within the walls of their homes, not only opened more bottles, but also of greater value, with Italian labels, protagonists of the greatest growth ever, in a framework in which overall consumption, at least in volume, would have increased by 2% over 2019 (Impact Databank data). In the 52 weeks ended December 27 (Iri data), 2020, sales grew 10.1% in volume (+17,7% for Italy) and, more importantly, 14% in value. Despite the lack of many social moments outside the home, bubbles were the sector that grew the most in volume. On the whole, +20.3%, with Prosecco being the best performer, with +25.5%. |
|
|
|
|
|
Fifty years is an important birthday. An occasion in which there are those who treat themselves to the trip of a lifetime, those who treat themselves to an unforgettable dinner, those who treat themselves to a jewel or perhaps a dream wine. Or, 4 hectares in one of the symbolic places of the “Renaissance” of Italian wine (which will be replanted with Sangiovese vines, starting from the existing material), and from which one of the most prestigious wines of the Italian panorama is born. That is, the hill of Tignanello, where one of the most important estates of Marchesi Antinori is located (with 130 hectares of vineyards and a villa that dates back to the 16th century). A sort of “ideal terrain” for the production of wine, 450 meters above sea level, with a wide range of temperatures between day and night, where the Antinori family, according to WineNews rumors, in the 50th anniversary of the first vintage of Tignanello, 1971, purchased these 4 hectares (already owned by the family in the past) thus reconstituting, under the aegis of one of the oldest Italian wine producers, the integrity of the hill, recreating, in fact, a true “monopole” of the highest quality in the heart of Chianti Classico (in San Casciano Val di Pesa). From here was born (in addition to the famous Solaia and Marchese Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva). |
|
|
|
|
|
A Bacchus crowned with olive leaves offering a glass of wine to Sibyl, prophetess and muse of artists from every era: this is how German artist Johannes Heisig described Chianti Classico Casanuova di Nittardi Vigna Doghessa 2018. Thus renewing the historical partnership between art and wine, which since 1981 has seen artists of great international fame - from Guenter Grass to Yoko Ono - “dress” the cru of the Nittardi label, whose vineyards were owned by Michelangelo Buonarroti, and today by Peter Femfert, Stefania Canali and their son Léon Femfert. |
|
|
|
|
A very difficult 2020 has crowned Italy’s fine wines as the absolute queen, in terms of growth. This is certified by the benchmark of this peculiar market segment, that is Liv-Ex. Italy 100, the index dedicated to the great wines of the Belpaese - made up of several vintages of the great Supertuscans, namely Sassicaia, Masseto, Ornellaia and the “triptych” of the Antinori family, formed by Solaia, Tignanello and Guado al Tasso, as well as Gaja’s Sorì San Lorenzo, Barbaresco and Sperss, and Giacomo Conterno’s Barolo Monfortino Riserva - grew by 6.65%. With the index of Italian labels also doing better than the Liv-Ex 1000 macro index (of which Italy 100 itself is part), up +2.02%, and the platform’s reference index, the Liv-Ex 100, up +5.4%. |
|
|
|
|
Initially, the ones that felt the crisis the most due to the restrictions that affected social relations as we knew them before Covid, Italian bubbles at the end were stable. There is more. Looking at the data on bottling and certifications, they have even grown. This applies to all the major denominations, from the Prosecco Docg to the Doc (which has exceeded the record of 500 million bottles), passing through Asolo and Asti. According to Iri data on Italian large-scale distribution, in November 2020, sales were +10.2% in volume and +9.9% in value. |
|
|
|
|
