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Issue 668 - February 12th - 16th 2024 - Expressly created for 4699 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world | |
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| | | Difficult 2023 for the entire wine market, and especially for reds, was also difficult for Chianti Classico. But sales in the medium term (2020-2023) were 4% higher than production. And not surprisingly, values are growing: the average price of Chianti Classico (average of the three types Annata, Riserva, and Gran Selezione) increased by 7% over 2022 and 13 % over 2021. For the bottled product, the strong presence - in volumes sold and in value - of the “premium” types of Chianti Classico, Riserva and Gran Selezione is confirmed, accounting for 42% of production and 54% of sales in 2023.
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| | A 2023 often hailed as an “annus horribilis” for the wine world, including the Italian one, but which, in reality, thanks to exports, could still hope to close very close to the record figures of 2022, even surpassing it: Istat data on the first 11 months of the year, analyzed by WineNews, speak of an encouraging recovery that brings the provisional balance to -0.6 percent in value, for almost 7.2 billion euros, accompanied by a draw in volume, and thus 1.99 million hectoliters between January and November 2023, a figure identical to that on the same period in 2022, but lower than the October figure that was in the positive. On the figure recorded up to October, in value (-0.7%), there was, therefore, an improvement that is part of a positive end-of-year trend, suffice it to say that, in September, it had reached -1.9 % always with stable volumes. Growing values, among the main markets observed in more detail by WineNews (which together are worth almost 7.2 billion euros in the first 11 months of 2023), continue, however, to be recorded only in a few European markets even though there are signs of improvement in both the U.S. and Canada, while in Eastern countries they remain in the “deep red”. Germany, the first European market, grows by 3.7%, surpassing 1.1 billion euros; higher growth for the UK (+5.4%) with 794.9 million euros and in France (+10.7%), which makes the biggest leap in the Old Continent, touching 300 million euros. Things are improving, but there is no end to the difficulties in the crucial North American market: the U.S. surpasses 1.6 billion euros, with -6% in the first 11 months 2023 over 2022, confirming itself as Italy's first foreign partner. In Asia, although the comparison with 2022 is very tough, a timid light of recovery is perhaps only lighting up in China as the trend at the end of 2023 shows. So if the overall picture remains dark, with the majority of the most important foreign markets for Italian wine still lagging far behind 2022, there are nonetheless some signs, already manifested in the October surveys, especially for North America and Europe, that nonetheless bode well for a sprint to a happy ending. | |
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| | Vinitaly, with its specific focus on Italian wine, and with an increasingly rewarding choice of diverting the audience of enthusiasts to the city and business to the fair, is (no longer) in question. While on the Paris-Dusseldorf axis, the specific weight of Italian participation in the two wine fairs has begun to shift toward “Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris”, whose spaces dedicated to Italy have grown tremendously. While ProWein, where Italian participation still remains massive, is starting to lose a few meters, as confirmed to us by the German fair. And now it is beginning to be questioned. And, if in this 2024, so many Italians went to Paris and will be, anyway, also at the next ProWein, it is likely that sharper choices will be seen next year. That’s the sentiment, gathered by WineNews, among the top management of consortia, companies and business groupings. | |
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| | | 50.4 million quintals of wine grapes compared to 67.2 in 2022, 25.1% less looking at the national average, but with several regions seeing harvest losses of well over 30%. This is the official balance of the 2023 harvest campaign in the Ministry of Agriculture's numbers, which WineNews is able to anticipate. And that tells the full impact of climate change and blight first and foremost. Veneto, with 13.6 million quintals of grapes, remains by far the leading region, despite a -9.2%, ahead of Puglia, with 8.7 million quintals of grapes, at -38.7%, and Emilia Romagna, which contains the decline in a -3.1%, at 7.9 million quintals of wine grapes harvested. At 3.6 million quintals of grapes, Sicily follows, accounting for a 37.6% drop, ahead of Piedmont, at 2.9 (-11.4%), Friuli Venezia Giulia, at 2.7 (-27.5%), and Tuscany, at 2.4 (-25.8%). The most pronounced declines, in percentage terms, are, however, in Molise (-74.6%) and in Abruzzo (-63.5%). The result, in wine, should, therefore, result in a total of 38.1 million hectoliters between wine and must out of the 49.8 in 2022, a -23% drop, to which 159,309 liters of grape juice should be added, according to production declarations. | |
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| | | If in 2022, wine Tuscany exported its products worth 1.2 billion euros, in the first 9 months of 2023, the region suffered a decline in overall value of -7.5%. A figure that should not frighten, but should be watched carefully, because Tuscany’s performance is below the Italian average, “mitigated” by the exports of the Region’s PDOs, to which 95.7% of a total area under vines has been growing for 4 consecutive years, and is increasingly “green”. Here are the data released by “PrimAnteprima” of Regione Toscana (in more detail). | |
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| | From Barolo Cannubi 1982 and 2018 by Marchesi di Barolo to Ben Ryé 2013 and Mille e Una Notte 2019 by Donnafugata, from Ferrari Perlé 2018 by Ferrari to Granato 2019 by Foradori, from Grave di Stecca Brut 2017 by Nino Franco to La Caccia Toscana Rosso 2020 by La Caccia di San Giovanni, from Lison Classico 2019 by Villa Bogdano 1880 to Mare Urchin 2012 and Squilla Mantis Albana 2015 by Tenuta del Paguro, from Pinot Grigio Salvadi 2020 by Scarbolo to Carapace Lunga Attesa Montefalco Sagrantino 2016 by Tenute Lunelli, from Barolo Bricco Rocche 2029 and Barbaresco Asili 2020 by Ceretto to Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Castelnuovo Berardenga Poggio Rosso 2019 by Agricola San Felice: here’s Italy in “The World’s Best Sommeliers’ Selection”, the world’s best wines for 30 of the best sommeliers, unveiled by the British editor of “The World’s 50 Best Restaurants”.
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| | Even in Piedmont, one of the most important wine regions in Italy, 2023 was a difficult year. On the markets, although many appellations did better than the Italian average (Nomisma Wine Monitor data) but also in the vineyard, with quantities at -14%. To console, however, is quality, judged by “eight stars” out of ten, looking at the average quality of grapes. Lots of interesting data emerged from the analysis, carried out by oenologists & agronomists, in “The Wine Year in Piedmont 2023” by Vignaioli Piemontesi and Regione Piemonte (in more detail). | |
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