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Issue 577 - May 16th - 20th 2022 - Expressly created for 4.374 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world |
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After yesterday’s tense Council of Ministers, today Prime Minister Mario Draghi had a decidedly easier morning in Valpolicella, where he met first with Sommacampagna middle school students, with whom he spoke about the Constitution, peace, and the pandemic, and then with two of the area’s leading producers. Nadia Zenato gave the Premier a bottle of Amarone della Valpolicella Archivio Storico 2008, while Sandro Boscaini welcomed Draghi to the headquarters of Masi Agricola, in Gargagnago di Valpolicella, where he sealed the meeting with a toast in the cellar in front of the famous barrel symbolizing the Masi Prize, in glasses the Amarone Costasera. |
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Customs data for the first quarter of 2022, analyzed by the Observatory of Unione Italiana Vini (Uiv) and Vinitaly, recount the slowdown, after the excellent results of 2021, of Italian wine shipments. Instead, according to Istat data on wine exports in the first two months of 2022, analyzed by WineNews, there was +21.1% growth over the first two months of 2021, to 1.013 billion euros of wine shipped worldwide. Let’s proceed in order, starting as usual with the closest markets, those of Old Europe. In France, shipments grew 45.8%, to €31.2 million, also sustained growth in Austria (+29%, to €17.8 million) and Switzerland (+16% to €60 million). Moving up Europe, the only sore point comes from Germany, the second most important market for Italian wine, which marks a slight contraction compared to 2021: -0.76%, to 151.6 million euros. Belgium grows by +65%, to 33.4 million euros, while the Netherlands marks 8.3%, to 30 million euros. In Northern Europe, the trend is quite uniform, from Denmark (+13.4%, to 23.6 million euros) to Sweden (+12.8%, to 29.1 million euros) and Norway (+13.7%, to 13.9 million euros). Extraordinary are the numbers from the United Kingdom, which imported 109.5 million euros of Italian wine (+76.9%) in the first two months of 2022. The last figure made in Europe, that of Russia, at 20 million euros of imports, up +32%: wine has been spared by the six sanctions packages launched so far by the EU against Moscow, but in the coming months, it is difficult to imagine a scenario of further growth, with the Russian economy destined to pay the costs of the absurd war in Ukraine. Excellent numbers come from the United States +17.5%, to 235 million euros, and even better is Canada, which imported 61.9 million Italian wine (+29%). In Asia, China’s downward parabola continues, losing an additional 18.2%, to 14.8 million euros. Slowing down is South Korea, which loses 5.3%, stopping at 10.7 million euros. Finally, Japan, on the other hand, registers a comforting +19.2 percent, to 26.7 million euros, and Hong Kong, a privileged gateway to many Italian fine wines in the Asian market, up 37.5 percent to 3.85 million euros. |
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As previously reported in recent days by WineNews, and as confirmed by data from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce analyzed by Wine2Asia, the China operations branch of Veronafiere and Vinitaly, in the first 3 months of 2022, wine imports into the country recorded another major decline, by -21.5% in value (to $318 million), -24.5 in volume for still wines (to 57 million liters), and -14.1% in value (to $22.4 million) and -39.1% in volume (to 1.8 million liters) for sparkling wines. France, on still wines, lost -18.3% in value and -35% in volume. Italy, on the other hand, stands at $33.9 million (-17.15%) - and is now third, behind the transalpines and Chile, at $64.5 million (+4.2%) - for 6.4 million liters (-13.4%). In sparkling wines, France is still No. 1 in value, while Italy is second, at $4.4 million. |
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Change at the board of Veronafiere, one of Italy’s most important exhibition players, and organizer of, among others, Vinitaly, the world’s No. 1 Italian wine event, and Fieragricola, Italy’s longest-running trade fair in the sector. The shareholders’ assembly appointed Federico Bricolo, a former senator of the Lega (and very close, according to rumors, to the Minister of Economic Development, Giancarlo Giorgetti, and the Minister of Tourism, Massimo Garavaglia, both in the Lega quota, ed.), as president. Also approved were the financial statements of Veronafiere Spa, which closed at 73.6 million euros in turnover, 18 million euros in ebitda and 4.2 million euros in profit, and elected the new Board of Directors, which is composed of Romano Artoni, Maurizio Danese, Matteo Gelmetti, Alberto Segafredo, Alex Vantini, Mario Veronesi, and Federico Bricolo. During the meeting, from what we learned, the figure of the CEO also took shape, which should be identified, in the near future, in the person of the outgoing president, Maurizio Danese (while the managing director Giovanni Mantovani, according to the “rumor”, would be leaving his official position on June 30, 2022, with the concrete prospect of remaining as a consultant to the fair, with a focus mainly on Vinitaly, but not only, ed.). |
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Banfi, Masciarelli, Antonella Corda (Sardinian Red Trophy and Italian Red Trophy), Col Vetoraz (Prosecco Trophy), Capezzana (Italian Sweet Trophy), Codice Citra for Tesco (Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Trophy and IWC Great Value Red under £8), Silvio Carta, San Brizio, Vignavolando, Villa Franciacorta, Vigna Traverso, Tosti 1820 for Tesco and Villaia: here are Italy’s 13 “Gold Medals” and “Trophies” of wine at the “International Wine Challenge 2022”, the world’s most influential international competition. |
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Among the many changes of hands and investments in Langhe, there is one that is really incredible. We have to go back to 2018, when a one of a kind opportunity came knocking — acquire a vineyard in Barolo, more precisely, an eight thousand square meter plot of one of the most prestigious crus, Monvigliero. The protagonist of the story was Vietti, a historic brand from Castiglione Falletto. Luca Currado Vietti, at the helm of the winery, not having the capital to finance the purchase, found an original solution: entering into a “métayage” (a form of sharecropping) agreement with a group of ten American investors. Under the terms of the agreement, the investor group retains 45% of production each year, which is released under the Vietti label, while Luca Currado Vietti is left with the remaining 55%. |
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Founded in 1142 by Blessed Hartmann, Bishop of Brixen, it has always had a “mystical” bond with the land, and its birth was due to generous donations of farms and land. The Abbey of Novacella, one of the oldest wineries in the world, celebrates 880 years since its foundation, in Alto Adige, where the Augustinians produce great wines (800,000 bottles a year, exported to 40 countries), with many events, and a limited edition of 880 magnums of the “cult wine” inspired by the Augustinian Rule: the Sylvaner “Cor unum et anima una”. |
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