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Issue 640 - July 31st - August 4th 2023 - Expressly created for 4.559 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world | |
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| | | With the vineyard still struggling with weather-related complications, in Italy, it is already harvest time. And kicking off, once again, is Sicily. The first bunches of Pinot Grigio, from what WineNews learns, have already fallen into the baskets between the rows at Cantine Ermès (photo), which covers multiple areas with multiple vineyards - such as Tenute Orestiadi in Gibellina, where the world’s largest work of land art also dwells among the vines, “Il Cretto” di Burri, to which a wine is also dedicated - and harvesting the first bunches of Pinot Grigio is also Settesoli, among its rows overlooking the sea, the beauty of which, WineNews, has reported many times. | |
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| | Once the fear has passed, and the seasonal trend has normalized, with a summer that arrived a little later than usual, and with very high temperatures, the Italian vineyard, where grapes are slowly changing color, is looking more confidently to the harvest 2023. Which is unlikely to be counted among the great vintages of the century, but be careful not to be too hasty: the heavy hailstorms in the Northeast have created more than one problem, but the pressure of Downy mildew, while causing important losses on the production front, has no kind of consequence on the quality of the grapes. Which, from Tuscany to Sicily, thanks precisely to the rains of May and June, and the heat of the last few weeks, are looking good. Is everything all right, then? No, and there is no need to stick our heads in the sand, but even less to recount with unjustified alarmism a difficult, challenging and exhausting season, which has sometimes caught winemakers unprepared, or in the impossibility of doing better than that. In the vast majority of cases, especially in Tuscany, but also in the Marche and Abruzzo, producers have been able to respond in the right way to the emergency, entering the vineyard in sometimes precarious conditions, and making the best use of the technologies and knowledge at their disposal. Not everything, of course, is predictable, and familiarity with certain climatic and meteorological contexts - as demonstrated by the serenity of the consortia in northern Italy, from Piedmont to Veneto, among others heard by WineNews (in more detail) - was certainly a factor. So has “promptness”, a word that recurs often and says a lot about how vineyard management is set to change. The phytosanitary state of the grapes, as anticipated, is everywhere excellent, and this is certainly the best sign towards a harvest that will get into full swing only in a few weeks, after a thousand obstacles and difficulties, but with still intact the possibility and hope of bringing a great harvest to the winery, although certainly lower than the quantitative average of the last few years, especially in the Adriatic Regions. Everyone’s hope, of course, is that the coming days will hold no further surprises, with the thoughts and eyes of the winemakers constantly oriented toward the sky, and ears to the weather forecast ... | |
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| | “In Tuscany there are wineries that have lost 70% of their production due to downy mildew. But it is also important to stress that the quality of wine will not be affected at all”. Words from Ritano Baragli, vice-president of Confcooperative Toscana, who thus photographs the consequences in Tuscany, one of the most important Italian wine regions. And which, in part, contradict or amplify what was said by the heads of the main wine consortia in the region, to WineNews, in its nationwide reconnaissance, who painted a complex situation, but with drops in grape quantities, at a general level, quite contained, between -5% and -20%, depending on the territory. As always, the sums will be drawn at the end. But the possibility is not excluded that, in some territories, some wineries may even risk not harvesting at all ... | |
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| | | Tenuta San Guido of the Incisa della Rocchetta family, the cradle of the Sassicaia myth, is confirmed as the queen for profitability, among private companies, with an index that exceeds 62%, looking at the ratio of gross operating margin (ebitda) to turnover. At least according to the now historical and authoritative survey by journalist Anna di Martino, published in “L’Economia” of the daily newspaper “Corriere della Sera”, which lined up the turnovers of the largest Italian wine companies. Looking at the fundamental parameter of profitability, on the second and third steps of the podium are two new entries: the Tuscan Biserno - which brought together the brothers Piero, Lodovico (who is honorary president) and Ilaria Antinori in a wine project, and today led by Ilaria's son, Niccolò Marzichi Lenzi - and the Friulian Jermann (which is largely controlled by Antinori), with indices of 52.7% and 48.4 %respectively. They are followed by, among the best, Marchesi Frescobaldi (38.99%), Gruppo Santa Margherita (34.64%), Argiolas (30.64%), Cusumano (30%), Marchesi Antinori (27.20%), Famiglia Cotarella (25.09%) and Marchesi Mazzei (25, 03%), and again, with a ratio above 20%, Donnafugata, Carpineto, Terra Moretti, Planeta, Casa Paladin, Castellani, Fantini Group, Feudi di San Gregorio and Mastroberardino. | |
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| | | In a very complicated international economic and political framework, and with Italian wine exports losing inertia (only +2% in value and -0.8% in volume in the first 4 months of 2023 compared to 2022, according to Istat data, analyzed by WineNews), pushing on promotion to recover in view of the end of the year, a vital period for the sector’s budgets, becomes even more important. And so will Vinitaly, which returns “on the road” between the second half of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, between North America, Europe and the Far East, as well as Brazil and the Balkans (in more detail). | |
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| | No. 1 in Italy, No. 18 in the world. That’s the “rating” of WineNews according to analysis portal FeedSpot, the largest online database on blogs and podcasts, which looked at the thousands of blogs and websites that, in various capacities, talk about wine in terms of traffic, followers on social channels, authoritativeness and originality, drawing up the “40 Best Italian Wine Blogs & Websites”. Which sees our portal, defined by FeedSpot as “the point of reference for information on the world of wine: interviews, videos, reviews, reports, in-depth analysis and always the latest news”, improve on its second place in 2022, and thus establish itself at the absolute top of the ranking, “undermining” the Italian section of “Wine Spectator”, the most authoritative of U.S. magazines dedicated to wine, at the top in 2022. | |
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| | In a complex season from the weather point of view, the 2023 grape harvest in Italy has begun, as reported by WineNews, paying a heavy price for the climate change that has damaged vineyards, with national production estimated, by Coldiretti, to be down 14% to 43 million hectoliters compared to 50 in 2022, with drops of up to 50% in the Central South. And while quality production is still expected, for volumes much depends on the evolution of temperatures and rainfall in the coming weeks, and the choice of the right time for harvesting. | |
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