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Issue 664 - January 15th - 19th 2024 - Expressly created for 4671 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world | |
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| | | Cavaliere Ezio Rivella, the first oenologist-manager and among the “fathers” of modern oenology, longtime president of the Italian and World Oenologists (first Italian), president of the National Doc Wines Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture and of Unione Italiana ViniConfederazione Italiana della Vite e del Vino, vice-president Office International de la Vigne e du Vin, has passed away in Rome. Born in Castagnole Lanze, in 1933, he was director of social wineries, founder of a consulting firm, and created from scratch Banfi with the Italian-American Mariani, a leading Italian wine and Brunello di Montalcino company, which he took to the world. | |
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| | For a long time considered a “madman” for his ideas, perhaps too far ahead of his time, as recounted many times by himself, then taken as a model by many, among the first wine oenologists to have set up a project of a large company, Banfi, in Montalcino, called by John Mariani, with complete control of the supply chain, from the vineyard to the bottle. An innovator and a pioneer, Cavaliere del Lavoro Ezio Rivella, who, starting from his native Castagnole Lanze, where he was born in 1933, in an Asti area (and in a wine world) quite different from that of now, much poorer, economically, but with a future all to build, he conquered the world, in the marketplace, but also at the institutional level, holding the highest positions of wine representations at the Italian level, innovating and experimenting, thanks to an extraordinary oenological culture and technical knowledge, combined with an uncommon capacity for vision. A man and a professional, Ezio Rivella, from whose history, and from the recollections of men and wine representatives who knew him and worked with him, whose ability to be a pioneer, and to have played a fundamental role in the transition from quantity to quality, of Italian wine, of the change from a more “chemical” type of interventionism to a more physical and mechanical one in production, and of having understood before others the value of communication, and of people, for the destiny of wine companies and territories, emerges above all. “Difficult to sum up so many years of relationship in this way. It was not just a collaboration, it really raised us. Credit and honor must be given to Rivella. Alone he could not have done these great things, but we, without his guidance, would not be the professionals and entrepreneurs we are now”, recalls Elizabeth Koenig, Banfi vice president. “He was the “deus ex machina” not only of Banfi but also of Montalcino. He laid the path that led to where we are today. He had the vision, but while others stop at the first difficulties, he did not”. And again, in more detail, the memories of, among others, Riccardo Cotarella (Assoenologi), Luigi Moio (Oiv), Alberto Mattiacci (who edited the book “Io e Brunello” for Rivella), Attilio Scienza (Comitato Nazionale Vini) and the founders of WineNews, Alessandro Regoli and Irene Chiari, and an unpublished memoir entrusted to WineNews, which we invite you to read for its great topicality. | |
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| | Italian wine is back to hope for a 2023 with a positive export balance: thanks to a strong October recovery (+7.6% over the same month 2022, for 784 million euros), Istat data on the first 10 months of the year, analyzed by WineNews, tell of an important recovery that brings the provisional balance to -0.7% in value, for 6.4 billion euros, accompanied by +0.8% in volume, to 1.79 million hectoliters. A good improvement on the figure recorded until September, which said -1.9% in value. Growing values, among the main markets examined more closely by WineNews (in more detail), continue, however, to be recorded only in a few European countries. Germany, for example, is growing +4.8%, with the United Kingdom following at +5%. Still negative all of Asia, and remains very negative North America, which however, shows some improvement.
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| | | From actors in triumphant series, such as Sarah Snooke, Kieran Culkin and Matthew Macfadyen (best female and male dramatic performance and best supporting actor in “Succession”), and Jeremy Allen White and Ebon MossBachrach, best male performance and best supporting actor in “The Bear”, but also Jennifer Coolidge, best supporting actress in the drama “The White Lotus”, which has Sicily as its backdrop, and Lee Sung Jin for directing the miniseries “Beef”, to stars such as Monica Bellucci and Tim Burton, Selena Gomez, Joan Collins, Jodie Foster, Jon Hamm, Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart, Steve Martin, Priscilla Presley and Jessica Chastain, once again one of Hollywood's most glamorous nights had an Italian touch thanks to a toast with the bubbles-symbols of the Italian Metodo Classico capable of going beyond wine to tell the story of Italian style. They are those of Franciacorta, for the third consecutive year, thanks to the partnership between Consorzio and Television Academy, Official Sparkling Wine of the “Emmy Awards”, the “TV Oscars”, in recent days in Los Angeles, in a historic edition for Italy, for the first nomination of two Italian actresses, Sabrina Impacciatore and Simona Tabasco for “The White Lotus”.
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| | | Great wines, 90 points or more, at $40 or less per bottle: electing the world’s best is the “Top 10 Value” 2023 by Wine Spectator, whose no. 1 is the Californian Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast 2021 by La Crema (91 points, $28), and in which the only Italian is one of the historic territories that, in recent years, has grown tremendously in quality and value, Chianti Classico, with Castello di Volpaia’s Chianti Classico 2021 (92 points, $30), at position No. 5 for the famous label owned by the Mascheroni Stianti family.
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| | It was a negative autumn for wine sales in the United States: total wine consumption in November marks a monthly trend decline of 11%, a figure that brings the volume sales gap in the first 11 months of 2023 to -8%. It goes better for Italian wines alone, which, between US off trade and horeca, limit losses to -3% in November and -3.5% for the year. This is noted by the Observatory of Unione Italiana Vini (Uiv). According to the Uiv report based on SipSource, a tool that monitors 75% of U.S. retail establishments, the smaller contraction in Italian wine consumption during the period is attributable to the - so far good - resilience of the sparkling wine segment (+2.2% trend over the year), against a generalized drop in still wines, with reds at -9%, whites at -3% and rosés at -13%. | |
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| | Stocks in Italian wineries are decreasing compared to 2022, as a result of one of the poorest harvests ever, 2023, which, pending final data, will see production stand at 38-40 million hectoliters, down -20/-24% on 2022, according to Assoenologi, Ismea and Unione Italiana Vini (Uiv). But despite this, stocks remain high, putting together more than 59.2 million hectoliters of wine. This is according to the latest edition of “Cantina Italia” by Icqrf, with data updated to December 31, 2023. With a negative balance, on the same 2022 figure, of -8.7% for wines. | |
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