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Issue 724 - March 10th - 14th 2025 - Expressly created for 3733 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world | |
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| | | Hoping that the 200% tariffs promised by Trump on Champagne and wines from France and Europe will remain just a threat, in case the European Union does not backtrack on the 50% tariffs on American whiskey as a response to the US 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum, trembling about the damage in a key market like the US market are not only European producing countries. But also the wine and restaurant business industry in America, which, thanks to imported wines, fears losses amounting to billions. As told in the pages of one of America’s most influential and widely read newspapers, the “New York Times”, by Eric Asimov. | |
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| | Aggregate data should always be interpreted, especially when referring to a world as articulated and complex as that of Italian wine. But, in the meantime, in a difficult context where the most popular words are declining consumption, duties, healthism or inflation, Italian wine, as expected, greets a 2024 with an all-time record of exports in value, at 8.1 billion euros, +5.5% on 2023, according to final Istat data, analyzed by WineNews. This economic growth is accompanied by an increase in volumes as well, on the 2.18 billion liters in 2024 (+3.2% over 2023), but to be read in light of the growth of sparkling wines, which have “stolen” market share from still wines, with exports of 555.5 million liters on the 495.7 in 2023 (+12%), for a value of 2.3 billion euros (+5%), with sparkling wines now accounting for more than a quarter of all Italian wine exports. Among the various countries, the U.S. is confirmed, by far, as the leading foreign partner of Italian wineries: while waiting to see if and when the dreaded tariffs promised by Trump will arrive, the U.S. imported 1.9 billion euros worth of Italian wine, up 10.2%, mainly thanks to a year-end that, for many, is the result of a small “stock rush” precisely to absorb the effect of possible duties. Also growing in value is Germany, which sets the bar at 1.18 billion euros (+3.71%), virtually stable is the United Kingdom, at 851 million euros (+1%), while growing to 447.8 million euros is Canada (+15.3%), and giving up something to Switzerland, at 411.1 million euros (-1.96%), and France, at 304.6 million euros (-0.88%). Among the other partners, the Netherlands, at 257.1 million euros (+10.1%), grows, as does Russia, at 230.6 million euros, a jump of +45.6%, while Belgium loses something, stopping at 227.5 million euros (-1.6%). Among the most important markets, Sweden grows, at 189.6 million euros (+3%), while Japan holds its own, at 184.2 million euros (+0.5%), and, still in Europe, Austria, at 163.5 million euros (+14.3%), and Denmark, at 150.8 million euros (+4.94%), close on a positive note. Dropping well below “quota 100”, however, is Norway, at 92.2 million euros (-10.9%), while, in Asia, China stops at 89.5 million euros, down -10.2% on 2023. | |
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| | So great as to seem unreal, so much so that one would hope for more of a provocation than a concrete proposal. This is how trade associations seem to want to comment on yet another outing by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has threatened duties of 200% (which would mean taking certain products out of the market, in effect) on Champagne and wine from France and other EU countries if the European Union does not withdraw its 50 % duties on American whiskies, in force since early April in retaliation for the duties on steel and aluminum in turn set by the United States. A dog biting its own tail. But the die, by now, is cast. In more detail, the reactions of Unione Italiana Vini, Federvini, Confagricoltura, Coldiretti, Cia-Agricoltori and Cooperatives. | |
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| | | From Burgundy to Langhe, from Bordeaux to Montalcino to the Unesco World Heritage Val d’Orcia, there are many differences, but one common trait is there: these are lands of great wines. And great wines, fine wines, can only be “wines of place”, expressions of the symbiosis between soil, vine and man’s work, just as a concert is the result of a score (the soil) and instruments (the vines) played in its own way by the musician (the producer), capable of telling much more than what is inside the glass, and of arousing emotion. Non-trivial reflection, today, in a wine narrative where what makes a bottle “great” is often more the critics’ scores and prices than anything else. A message reiterated in the memory of the greatest master of Sangiovese and devotee of wine territoriality, Giulio Gambelli, in the event “Reincontrare Giulio Gambelli”, staged in Rocca d’Orcia, directed by Pasquale Forte’s Podere Forte, which brought together producers from some of the most important territories in Italy and France (with speeches, among others, Jacky Rigaux, wine writer, critic, former professor at the University of Bordeaux, Roberto Conterno, at the helm of Barolo’s legendary winery, Giacomo Conterno, and Claude and Lydia Bourguignon, among the world's greatest agronomic consultants, in more detail) | |
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| | | With an exclusive interview, in front of a glass of wine, by Marvin R. Shanken, “Wine Spectator” editor & publisher, to Piero Antinori, wine “legend” of Tuscany and the world with Marchesi Antinori, in which two of the most influential figures in wine review its last 50 years of history, Italy, once again, is back on the cover of the authoritative U.S. magazine, in the April issue, circulated worldwide during Vinitaly 2025, in Verona (April 6-9), with the tasting-prologue “OperaWine” signed “Wine Spectator” and Veronafiere. | |
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| | Enhancement of the “brolo” of one of Italy’s most beautiful and fascinating historic residences, Villa della Torre, with Amarone della Valpolicella and Valpolicella Classico and the appellations of origin that revolve around the city of Verona, Valpolicella, Soave and Lugana, with a brand that right from the name - “Peaks & Valleys” - and the graphic sign, identifies the landscape, climatic and geological peculiarities that are reflected in the quality of the wines obtained “according to the rules” at the basis of the Marilisa Allegrini group philosophy. The two new projects - signed by Cavaliere del Lavoro Marilisa Allegrini, were illustrated at Villa della Torre in Valpolicella, together with Andrea Lonardi, Master of Wine and Strategic & Executive Advisor of the Marilisa Allegrini group. | |
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| | Celebrating 100 years thinking about the next 100, between wine and art, not with a special wine, as is customary, but with a book-manifesto, which tells about the creative process and charts the course for tomorrow: it is “Ode to the Future,” the volume wanted by Pasqua Vini - one of the most important wineries in Italy from Veneto, which, in 2025, celebrates its first century of life - and published by Rizzoli that, in five chapters, describes the protagonists, the five iconic wines of Pasqua, Famiglia Pasqua, Mai Dire Mai, 11 Minutes, Hey French and Terre di Cariano Cecilia Beretta. | |
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