MONDAY YEAR 93 23rd November 2020 Supplement to Issue 37 A NEW INSIGHT IN THE WORLD OF Speaking to the global planet of wine and telling it through words, as well as with numbers, data and features, analyses and scenarios. This is why this new special edition of Il Corriere Vinicolo – in its second issue – came about, 16-19.11.2021 together with . The oldest wine magazine in the world goes beyond the Italian borders and aims at hosting 16-19.11.2021 Milan - the international discussion about wine. It is a special project in a special year that looks at the five continents Milan - Italy where today wine is a protagonist in the and on the table. Enjoy.

by special edition

SUPPLEMENT TO ISSUE 37 OF IL CORRIERE VINICOLO, 23RD NOVEMBER 2020 Published by UNIONE ITALIANA VINI, Italy’s Union of Wine Producers, headquartered in Milan, 3, Via San Vittore al Teatro Ph: +39 02 72 22 281, FAX: +39 02 86 62 26. Website: www.corrierevinicolo.com

Registered at Milan’s Court, N. 1132 on February, 10, 1949. Tariff R.O.C. Poste Italiane Spa, sent via postal service, Law Decree 353 (conv. in L. 02/27/2004 n. 46). Art. 1, comma 1, DCB Milan. Printed by Sigraf, Treviglio (Bergamo). Member of USPI, Association of the Italian Periodical Press

UNIONE ITALIANA VINI’S NEW IT-STATISTICS PLATFORM IS ON ITS WAY

APPELLATIONS BAROLOWhen The Origin PAGE 3 Marks 3 Million Records The Success Just A Click Away Of A Wine Page 15 The architecture of the innovative tool developed by the Unione Italiana Vini will be presented at wine2wine. When fully operational, it will consist of four sections PRODUCTS dedicated to world trade, production potential, the bulk market of all and sales performances of the Italian DOs and IGs. The first trial of the system described by business men using it in preview. “It is a revolution in data culture that will Sparkling make a huge series of statistics easily accessible to everyone,” Paolo Castelletti, Wine + ? secretary general of Unione Italiana Vini, commented Or A Brand-new Category? As consumption A WIDE-RANGING INTERVIEW WITH THE booms in Italy and across the GENERAL MANAGER OF VERONAFIERE globe, the introduction of new products like Doc Rosé opens up questions on how to And, From The Screens Of categorize it and market it. Page 26 Wine2wine, Wine Is On Air

aunching the inauguration of the along with internal and external, fierce compet- seventh edition of wine2wine – in itors. All these elements made even steeper the NEW FRONTIERS a complicated context as the pres- path towards an event that today everybody is ent one – can already be considered considering with enthusiasm as the “ideal flag” Wine Can (Also) L a success. After the recent, quick of the “restart” route. It is a remarkable outcome transformation of the exhibition into a com- due to tenacity and determination, which are pletely digital event, we are having a framework, bearing fruit. In this wide-ranging interview, Be Made In Water which was unimaginable until some days ago, the general manager of Veronafiere, Giovanni Can water help wine? Some producers in that included a large number of operators reg- Mantovani, speaks about the work carried out, istered as users on the online platform, a com- about what to expect from the four-day digital are experimenting with underwater aging and prehensive schedule of meetings and attendees exhibition focused on wine, on the trends of the are having interesting results. of great interest, as well as a convinced partic- wine market and from the new coexistence of ipation from the whole world of online and in-person events and, more broadly, associations following the invitation of - from the future, with an eye (and more than a fiere. This is an “assembled puzzle” celebrating thought) on the next Vinitaly. More than 50 seminars, the importance of the PAGE 34 b2b meetings, workshops, Veronese event on 12 wine tastings held the agenda of inter- remotely from Europe, national and Italian China, the U.S., Japan and wine. GLOBAL MARKETS Brazil, and Operawine. Among the challeng- It's a busy schedule for a es of the sector, that ON special edition. of Veronafiere has GERMAN SOLIDITY PUT The goal is education certainly been one AIR and nurturing new ideas of the most difficult TO THE TEST BY COVID-19 on how to operate in our ones. An econom- During the pandemic, "new world" and "new ic sector in distress, has been a bastion normalcy." with thousands of of Italian exports. Italian wine's troubles enterprises in great amidst export, HORECA difficulty, an exhibi- Veronika Crecelius, PAGE crisis and the need to tion system halted correspondent for "act as one" as told by by the Government’s the leading German Giovanni Mantovani, who measures imple- 2 wine magazine, is looking at (and thinking mented to face the Page 21 explains how. about) the next Vinitaly health emergency, 2 by WINE2WINE IN 2020 photo ©Ennevi

GIOVANNI MANTOVANI

A WIDE-RANGING Wine2wine 2020 brings wine back on INTERVIEW WITH THE the virtual screen of Veronafiere, which GENERAL MANAGER confirms to be a important player OF VERONAFIERE in the sector. Over 50 seminars, b2b meetings, webinars, workshops and 12 wine tastings will be held remotely photo ©Ennevi from Europe, China, the United States, Japan and Brazil reserved for foreign buyers, together with Mr. Mantovani, we envisaged a physical trade fair event, Operawine, featuring 70 international dent of ICE (Italian Trade Agency) and Teresa Bellanova, Minister the return of buyers to Verona, the exhibition area, the of Agricultural Policies. During the meeting, there will be a pres- showcase of Operawine, a safe way to do networking. speakers in an unprecedented schedule entation of a research project carried out by Nomisma Wine Mon- Then the closure. Why did you decide to organise for a special edition. itor for Vinitaly Observatory, which, in addition to providing mar- wine2wine anyway? ket data regarding the most complicated year ever experienced, It was a necessary change. After the decree issued by the Italian The target is to gather business, develops a survey conducted on the Italian companies to draw the Government at the end of October, any trade fair event is forbid- contents, meetings, professional profile of wine business in the post-Covid age. den in person. Nevertheless, we wanted to keep the agenda of an In the afternoon, OperaWine will host the presentation of the event that was created with the aim to gather business, meetings, training, as well as ideas, to 100 top producers 2020 by Wine Spectator, followed by a session of professional training, as well as ideas to support the wine-grow- questions and answers. Among the numerous events on schedule, ing and market in a very delicate and difficult period, understand how to move in our “new there will also be the Congress Day of Assoenologi (Oenologists with a positive perspective and getting ready for the post-Covid world” and in our “new normalcy.” Association) 2020, on Sunday, November 22, and the Round Table phase. For this reason, we set up the maximum possible inter- “Wine and Mass Market Retail Distribution facing the change,” action for an event that necessarily had to be totally transferred The difficulties of wine in different dedicated to the Italian Retail Channel, on Monday, November 23. online in a few weeks, with a schedule of top-quality contents Over fifty digital sessions are scheduled in the wine2wine busi- and business attendees. It will be a service event – and for that we markets, export trade and the crisis ness forum, involving seventy international speakers dealing thank the numerous partners that collaborated with us to create of HORECA are told by Giovanni with market issues, such as globalisation, post-Covid, new con- the best conditions for the restart of the sector. sumption and purchase procedures, wine tourism, marketing and Mantovani, who looks to (and thinks digitalisation. Two special sessions will concern women’s leader- This is obviously a difficult year also for Italian wine and ship and inclusivity in the wine industry. On schedule is also the the new closures will even more affect the economic about) the next Vinitaly conference on the theme “Wine in the changing, global scenar- outcome of the companies. That said, our export loss is io: the challenges of the wine production chain” (November, 23), estimated around 50 percent of the global export average which will be attended by the top managers of Federdoc, Unione and three times less than the French one. How could you Italiana vini, Federvini, Alleanza per le , Fivi and ICE. explain this fact? It is true, exports are decreasing, but we are earning market Exhibitions are suffering even more than wine and wine, trends. Will a platform be able not to make us regret the shares. On average, we are losing less than the other countries. without the exhibition business, pays an even higher price. traditional event? There are several reasons depending on many factors in the dif- How do we solve this situation? China restarted. We are convinced that digital events could never replace phys- ferent areas. In the United States, which alone are covering almost As we will also see in the wine2wine forum, the digital dimension ical events, relationships or contacts in person, on which also 30 percent of our global exports, we benefited from a flying start, will more and more complement the physical part, but an exhibi- commercial relations are founded. That said, it is clear that un- with +40 percent in the first two months of the year. Moreover, we tion remains a unique event, which is hard to replace with other der this circumstance digital tools and media can contribute to were spared customs duties. This allowed us to bridge the gaps left tools. A good example of this are the events in person organised bridge the distance among operators. Therefore, wine2wine “goes by our competitors that, in full health emergency, suffered very in China: those of Vinitaly Road Show held in Xiamen, Shanghai on air” with a schedule including b2b meetings, webinars, work- heavy losses. In general, we can say that we have had the advan- and Chengdu last September, as well as Wine To Asia, scheduled to shops and 12 wine-tastings remotely held from Europe, China, the tage of a wider range of products, certainly more competitive in take place in Shenzhen on November 20 and 21. It will be its first United States, Japan and Brazil, reserved for foreign buyers. “Ve- the quality/price ratio. In addition, with regard to distribution, edition this year and it also risked being cancelled more than any ronafiere plus” Platform will then host the wine2wine exhibition, we showed a greater balance among the on and off-trade sales other events. On the contrary, it went beyond the expectations, over 50 seminars of the wine2wine business forum together with channels. To give you an example, referring to U.S. records again, with more than 200 exhibiting companies and half of them from Operawine, with the presence of Wine Spectator throughout all Italian wine registered a very strong upturn in the retail chan- Italy. It will probably be the only event, in which wine and, in par- exhibition and forum days, remaining available online for possi- nels in the period of the strictest lockdown (from 18 April to 11 ticular, wine made in Italy, will be discussed in continental China, ble chatting with the companies. July), a 39 percent growth compared with the same period of last in a city that is becoming a symbol of the new China, Shenzhen, at We will open the four-day event with the International Summit year. On one hand, it strengthened the Italian leadership among the centre of the Great Bay Area. In addition, all scheduled events on Saturday 21 November (10.30 am) on the theme “The future of imported wines on the shelves of liquor stores and mass-market are sold out and that says a lot about the expectation of a real event wine: different visions, one perspective. Current scenarios and retail stores and, on the other hand, it partially compensated the in person, even if in a market where the use of digital and online possible challenges for next decade.” It will be attended by inter- loss on the HORECA channel, which is in objective difficulty. That tools and media is really advanced. national and Italian players of the sector and institutional repre- said, it is also wrong to minimise and not to consider that there sentatives, such as Raffaele Borriello, Director of ISMEA (Service is a whole segment of Italian supply to the HORECA sector, that is Are you already thinking about the next Vinitaly? Institute for the Agricultural and Food Market), Carlo Ferro, presi- suffering very heavy losses. Organising an exhibition, especially an international trade show requires a lot of time and work. The organisers know it and so do In the meantime, we restart from wine2wine. What is the exhibitors, who often start working on the event many months main goal? before, in order to make the most of their participation. With re- The goal is clear and we can see it in the daily relation with wine- gard to Vinitaly and of the 40 events linked to it every year, we can makers and international markets. It is to be a real support in the affirm that there is never a beginning or an end, but a “continu- relation between companies and markets. In this period, every- um,” especially with the postponement of the 54th edition of the one has been using their own instruments, but the feeling is that exhibition from this year to 2021. Veronafiere, with its top man- there is a lot of improvisation and an inclination to live day by agers, is a member of the boards of the Italian and International day. The market is undoubtedly in difficulty and the companies Trade Fair Associations, such as Ufi and Aefi. In this period of re- begin to see the curve of a possible restart. Therefore, wine2wine ally great difficulty for the sector worldwide, we are trying hard to is taking place in a moment when we are trying to offer some set up a reasonable schedule for 2021, in line with the needs of the strategies to understand how to move in our “new world,” in our sectors and the markets of reference. The dates of an international “new normalcy.” exhibition cannot be improvised. In order to be ready, we have to work well in advance and, in order to work well in advance, we The schedule is very rich, ranging from professional have to be sure that it is possible to organise the events that we

training to business, passing through the analyses of photo ©Ennevi schedule. special edition COVER STORY by 3

UNIONE ITALIANA VINI’S NEW IT-STATISTICS PLATFORM IS ON ITS WAY

The architecture of the innovative wines. The first trial of tool developed by the the system described Unione Italiana Vini by business men will be presented using it in preview. at wine2wine. When “It is a revolution in fully operational, data culture that will it will consist of four make a huge series sections dedicated to of statistics easily world trade, production accessible to everyone,” potential, the bulk Paolo Castelletti, market of all wines secretary general of and sales performances Unione Italiana Vini, of the Italian PDO and PGI commented WINE OBSERVATORY 3 Million Records Just A Click Away

t just takes a click to of Unione Italiana Vini, com- find out the export mented. “And it will put us in curve of Prosecco to the position to autonomously the USA in recent construct all the analyses and years and to compare forecasts that we need. In ad- it with and dition, this tool will enable us onI all the destination markets, to improve the ‘data culture’ or to monitor the price trend for in the winegrowing sector on bulk Barolo in the last five years, behalf of and consor- and compare it with Brunello di tia, as well as institutions and Montalcino and della arriving at the political level. , or even the devel- Today, the internet has made opment of exports of white or an enormous amount of data red DOC Sicilia wines, Asti or that can be found on the net d’ to ‘available’ but not ‘accessible’ every country in the world. But and, in order for professionals also, the trend of DOC status to use them, they firstly need claims and bottling of all the to be found, processed, stand- other 500 Italian PDO or PGI ardised and interpreted. It is wines, as well as comparing the a hard, demanding job that monthly development of wine often proves almost impossi- and must stocks in recent years. ble for many entrepreneurs, The secret lies in a “friendly” especially of small and me- dashboard, as we say in digital dium-sized companies who jargon, thanks to which we will don’t have the time or the no longer be faced with tables of static data in Excel or PDF Vini is all this, and much more. commercial level. available, also once the funda- THE WINE format, but a dynamic tool that In many ways it is a historic This sector is fully aware of mental requirement of com- OBSERVATORY'S PAOLO CASTELLETTI, SECRETARY HOME PAGE GENERAL OF UNIONE ITALIANA VINI will enable the user to auton- turning point in the analysis, the importance of having data pany privacy has been guaran- The first data base on omously build the tables and processing and accessibility of and statistical analyses on the teed on the subject of sensitive World Trade in Italian statistical analysis he needs. economic data of the sector. Af- economic situation in which data. In this work of a strictly and English is already available for consultation. Behind all of this is a complex, ter two years of intense work, a company operates. But it is “political” nature around the For information on how to original and highly innovative we have the first release of the just as clear that figures on the data, the new Wine Observato- access it, please email at: IT architecture, developed by platform, which will be offi- winegrowing sector, concern- ry is also a new opportunity for osservatoriodelvino@ the company Maxidata, which cially presented at the seminar ing production and the mar- the sector, because it will offer uiv.it has been implemented with a organised within wine2wine ket, are not enough to meet ways of purchasing and aggre- huge amount of data, equal to called “The Wine Observatory the needs of companies. This gating company data in com- over 3 million records. These by Unione Italiana Vini: data is because of a lack of – or gap plete anonymity and privacy, data describe the trends of the sharing for the Italian wine in- in –, official data, due to the re- thanks to the use of the latest commercial wine world, pro- dustry” (Monday 23rd November sistance of many business pro- IT technology and advanced duction, bottling, stocks and from 2 pm to 2.30 pm). During fessionals to make the reliable encryption systems. bulk market of the Italian sec- the meeting, producers, consor- construction of market analy- “The technical aspects of our tor and sales in the different tia representatives and wineries sis possible with respect to the new Observatory, which I distribution channels, cover- from Italy will discuss the im- different distribution channels would define as revolutionary, ing the past ten years. portance of data analysis in the (especially HORECA, but also will enable us to overcome the The new Wine Observatory de- construction of business strate- details of exports), through static nature of tables,” Paolo veloped by the Unione Italiana gies on both a production and a business data being made Castelletti, secretary general special edition 4 by COVER STORY

means to do this research. With our new Observatory, FIGURE 1 the easy, simple and immedi- ate possibility of processing data analysis and forecasts on imports and exports to all the countries in the world, from bottling, to bulk prices of hundreds of Italian wines and winegrowing products, will be made available to everyone.” “We are convinced that the new Observatory will open a new phase of data analysis of Italian and international wine,” Mr. Castelletti conclud- ed. “Offering more chances to process analyses and strate- gies on all levels (company and FIGURE 2 institutional) in a highly inno- vative way. And positive feed- back coming from entrepre- neurs who are testing the Beta version of the new Observatory is an important and invaluable confirmation.”

What Is The New Observatory And How Does It Work?

World wine trade, produc- tion, bottling and stocks, bulk market. An advanced digital platform, a single centre for gathering data, with infinite possibilities for queries. These are the foundations that the pillars of the Unione Italiana Vini’s Wine Observatory plat- World Trade form rest on, a digital infra- structure that has been created to aggregate and standardise he Import-Export platform aggregates data from different sources the data of countries importing and ex- and to allow enterprises to porting wine, for a total of over 90 per- carry out research on different Tcent of annual global traffic, starting from 2010. levels, both general and in- The wine categories present (120) are in the depth. The Observatory devel- international Combined Nomenclature (CN), oped innovative tools of data therefore sparkling, still/semi-sparkling pack- interrelation, crossing and ex- aged wines, bag-in-box and bulk wines, obtained traction which means that, for from official channels of data dissemination the first time, it is possible to (customs, the national statistics institute, lo- have the necessary strategic cal wine institutes). For most supplier coun- information quickly at your tries, the data is returned with the ranking for fingertips, in order to know the the main business partners annually, but every state of the present and his- three months for the top players and every toric situation, and to outline month for Italy, and . Once again medium-term scenarios, an for Italy, France and Spain, the 120 single wine indispensable requirement for categories present in the CN standard have been developing success strategies. FIGURE 3 reprocessed and reaggregated in a completely new way, to offer different interpretive criteria, Infrastructure more relevant to the needs for data exploration and comparison: colour, class (PDO, PGI, , And Database Export volume 2019: France - to : All - products: Bordeaux PDO still red bott. common), type (still, sparkling, semi-sparkling, sweet, fortified), re-exports. The Wine Observatory is first The volume data are expressed in litres and and foremost a powerful IT hectolitres, while value and average price are infrastructure. It was devised indexed to the currency of the individual coun- by Unione Italiana Vini on the tries, with the possibility of univocal cross con- basis of the needs expressed version on an annual, three-monthly or month- by companies and created by ly basis. For example, the Danish data will be Maxidata, a software house viewable in Krone, but convertible into Euros, of the Zucchetti Group. The USD, Yuan, Yen, etc. Observatory consists of three The system allows different entry keys(figure 1): distinct platforms for the search by country, by product or comparative se- gathering, processing and per- lection. The queries for accessing the data, range sonalised release of data, for a from the simplest (a supplier, a product, a client) total volume of over 3 million to multiple ones, with the possibility of crossing records available, which can be several levels on a single dashboard: different crossed thanks to the various suppliers, different products, different markets, levels of queries implemented. in practice aggregating searches that would oth- erwise have to be done individually, on different databases, with uneven volume and value ex- pressions (for example Italy-sparkling wine-ex- port-Germany versus Australia-bottle-UK). The system returns data in table form (figure 2), with the possibility to make instant calculations (percentage variations, CAGR %, share %), to ex- tract in Excel and produce dynamic automatic diagrams or, by selection, also downloadable in jpg format (figure 3).

Supplement to Issue 37 of Il Corriere Vinicolo, 23rd November 2020 Press service of the Unione Italiana Vini – Association for the General Protection of the Economic Activities in the Wine Sector Association of the Italian Periodical Press EXECUTIVE EDITOR NEWSROOM GRAPHICS PROMOTION AND DEVELOPMENT ERNESTO ABBONA ANNA VOLONTERIO ALESSANDRA BACIGALUPI LAURA LONGONI, tel. +39 02 72 22 28 41 [email protected] ALESSANDRA FARINA [email protected] EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DANIELE RIZZI Advertising: [email protected] GIULIO SOMMA [email protected] COLLABORATORS is a member of the European project Omar Bison, Giancarlo Montaldo, NEWSROOM CLERKS SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGING EDITOR Clementina Palese, Fabio Ciarla tel. +39 02 7222 281 NOEMI RICCÒ, tel. +39 02 72 22 28 48 CARLO FLAMINI [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] WE NEVER STOP INNOVATING

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The Potential he second platform aggregates three types of data that make up the produc- tion offer: the first – Production – pro- Tposes the potential and wine production of the main countries in the world and – for Italy – the disaggregate for regions and wine types (PDO- PGI, varietal, common). FIGURE 5 The second platform aggregates the data of po- tential, DOC status claims, certification and bot- tling of the over 500 Italian designations of ori- gin and geographical indications, starting from when the control system was fully operational, therefore in 2013 (figure 4). As for DB Import-Export, the system offers the possibility of queries by product type and terri- tory, with the option of comparative selections. The innovation in research and classification of data is that of being able to know absolute values and bottling of PDO-PGIs, subdivided by class of volume, by name ( variety, territory, municipality or various combinations) and by year of recognition, in order to be able to have an overall picture of what performs better in terms of the relationship between bottled and DOC sta- tus claimed. The Stocks database completes the platform, summarising the data released monthly by "Can- tina Italia" (official database powered by Italian Ministry of Agriculture) since 2018, with the pos- sibility of multiple queries on what is geared to Import-Export and Bottling: therefore, the devel- opment of stocks per product (aggregated or indi- vidual PDO-PGI), region, province, line and com- parative graphs between the various products or territories, the calculation of the relationship be- tween stocks and production (figure 5).

Data reported in figure 4 and onwards are mere approximations

WHAT THE PROFESSIONALS SAY Antonio Rallo, Sandro Sartor and Luca Giavi will take part in the official presentation of the Observatory at wine2wine, scheduled for 23 November at 2.00 pm. Like other consortia and wineries, during the past few weeks they have been granted access to the Beta version of the Import-Export section of the statistical database. Here are their impressions and perceptions on the future development of the platform, especially as regards the project of the database on sales of PDO-PGI wines.

As the DOC Sicilia Consortium, we have set ourselves the goal of Having certain data at your disposal, which The availability and timeliness of the information on the building a consolidated and precise statistical base during these years, is already aggregated and standardised, is a market trend of the designation, thanks to the measurement

which guarantees the correctness of photo ©Pilotto considerable step forward for companies, like of the sales flows directly from the management software the choices made, both on governing ours, who work and live on the competitiveness of wineries, enables the Consortium to prepare a suitable the designation and for the strategies of the various markets. The platform developed management programme of the volumes available to implemented on markets. From the by the Unione Italiana Vini meets these release for consumption, according to tools made available point of view of the potential, the entry strategic needs, offering the chance to carry by the rules in force, in order to follow market equilibrium. into effect of the system for controlling out research that is both wide-reaching and For wineries, the return of aggregate data enables production in 2013 and the recent in-depth at the same time, while saving time them to monitor the state of their sales and to compare implementation of the Cantina Italia on data collection from different, patchy performances both on the Italian market (HORECA, not reports, give us a precise picture of the sources. Therefore, I believe that the creation outlined yet) and in exports, where among other things the state of Italian wines. But we are still of a database on designations and insertion of the Prosecco Designation in the world commerce inside the cellar. When they cross the geographical indications, allowing us to SANDRO SARTOR database of the Unione Italiana Vini Observatory enables gates, the data become less measure sales on the Italian HORECA wider horizons, with the possibility to cross statistics both certain. If it is true that the picture is channel and to examine the data in Managing Director – Senior with similar designations (for precise for Italian mass market further detail, for both volume and Vice President – Ruffino example Champagne, Cava, LUCA GIAVI retail, thanks to institutes such as ANTONIO RALLO value of exports, will enable us to take Group & Cbi Emea Region etc.) and with other product Nielsen and IRI, we know almost a further step, to bridge two large gaps types, such as still wines. General Director nothing about HORECA, other Managing Director of in the Italian wine system. The Classico Consortium, one of Sharing data (whether of the of the Prosecco DOC than having just a “feeling.” Now Donnafugata and President the firsts in Italy, has created its own tool to measure the performance winery or the consortium Protection Consortium that the pandemic has hit this of the Sicilia DOC Wine of the designation, which allows us to know in real time the state in an Italy aggregate) is sector hard, it is vital to have a Protection Consortium of our wines, giving wineries the possibility to compare their own a fundamental premise tool at your disposal that enables data with the aggregate one of the designation for each destination for the construction of us to say with certainty if a designation is holding up, or suffering more market and divided into the different wine types (, riserva, gran a platform that meets or less than others, as well as being able to count on an Italy-aggregate selezione). But looking at a single designation, a single wine on its the needs of the Italian to compare performances with not only a designation as a whole, but own is still a partial outlook. The Observatory’s database, which when winegrowing sector, with also at a winery level. The aim of the Unione Italiana Vini’s Observatory fully operational will allow us to compare different designations with the final aim of a rock- is to bridge this gap and we are convinced of the worth of this venture, a similar market positioning and price range in which they compete, hard certainty of the firstly as wineries and secondly as a Consortium of wineries. As for will design the framework within which the individual products move. data and especially of its exports, it is strategic to equip businesses with a database that enables This will give us the possibility to understand a performance, whether external communication, them to get more in-depth data, PDO by PDO and PGI by PGI, to bridge positive or negative, in terms relative to a wider market context, an both factors that can the gaps of the so-called international Combined Nomenclature, which essential premise for an accurate analysis on which to base medium be guaranteed only by for our country (with France and Spain, the main world exporter) still and long-term strategic decisions, whether of an individual winery or those who really govern leaves a lot to be done in terms of precision, completeness and variety. of a consortium as a whole. the designations. special edition COVER STORY by 7 FIGURE 6

The Bulk Wine Market

he Observatory is integrated with a platform dedicated to the Italian bulk wine market. It aggregates data released Tweekly on the “Market” pages of the Corriere Vin- icolo since 2010, for a total of about 500 types of wine (PDO, PGI, varietal, common, must), moni- tored by networks of agents and intermediaries adhering to Med.&A. (National Association of Wine Brokers). The prices of all products have been previously standardised; therefore, the database al- lows the extraction of time series of the indi- vidual products (week- ly, monthly, yearly). For products listed on different stock mar- kets and with differ- ent units of measure, the system offers the possibility to build com- parative series, through special conversion options. For all the wines present in the catalogue, the system ena- Database Release bles calculations of percentage change THE IMPORT-EXPORT PLATFORM IS ALREADY OPERATIONAL IN ALL ITS FUNCTIONS, to be carried out on the previous weeks and on ALSO IN ENGLISH. TO CONSULT THE DEMO FREE, SEND AN EMAIL TO monthly and yearly averages. The search for [email protected] products is twofold: by year of production (use- THE RELEASE OF THE POTENTIAL AND BULK MARKET DATABASES IS SCHEDULED ful above all for long-aged wines) and by year of FOR THE END OF THE YEAR AND THE FIRST FEW MONTHS OF 2021 data collection, which enables a comparison of the prices of different in the various years of dealings on the market (figure 6). special edition COVER STORY by 9

FIGURE 7

The Personalised Dashboard System

The system as a whole allows cross-sectional data collection of products and markets of inter- est. All wines and product categories present on the three platforms are codified and correlated, so that the searches on a database also show the correlated data of the other two. For example, a query on “export Prosecco” will recommend you view the data available for Prosecco on the bot- tling/stocks database as well as the bulk wine one. The user is thus given the possibility to build up personalised dashboards that are auto- matically updated to the latest available data. FIGURE 8 The PDO-PGI Database

The fourth database is under construction and completes Unione Italiana Vini’s Observatory. It is dedicated to data collection of sales of the main PDO and PGI wines. In partnership with the pro- tection consortia, Unione Italiana Vini will collect data on aggregate sales of the companies associ- ated on the Italian and foreign HORECA channel. Data on the exports of individual PDO-PGIs will merge within the Observatory’s already opera- tional Import-Export platform, thus filling a void in the Combined Nomenclature, which aggregates macro-typologies of wine today (for example, PDO whites, PDO Tuscan reds) (figures 7 and 8). A database of sales of the individual PDO-PGIs will be built for the HORECA channel, which will make up an aggregate snapshot of a funda- mental but unmonitored segment. Wineries be- longing to consortia will thus have the chance to monitor their performance in relation to the total of the reference PDO-PGIs and to compare their own and aggregate data with that of other designations present in the database (figure 9).

THE PARTNERS OF THE OBSERVATORY

The institutional partner of the Unione Italiana Vini’s FIGURE 9 Observatory is VERONAFIERE- VINITALY, who has shared the general project and start-up

The operational partner is WINE INTELLIGENCE, the British company specialising in market research on wine

The statistical-economic partner is ISMEA.

The service provider is MED.&A., national association of wine agents and intermediaries, part of Unione Italiana Vini

The technological partner is MAXIDATA, software house of the Zucchetti group. special edition 10 by NEWS FROM WINE2WINE

A Webinar Organised By Vinitaly And By The Italian-American Chamber Of Commerce In Chicago Quality And Sustainability Of The Wine Production Chain For The U.S. Market After The Pandemic William (Bill) Terlato illustrated the most recent changes of the market and consumption in the United States, obviously and heavily affected by Covid-19

uality and profit: these are the key elements nev- of market and consumption in the United States, obviously and high-quality production. On one hand, the attention to food and er to be forgotten.” A concise, “very American” and heavily affected by Covid-19. wine pairing – thus to cooking, such as those of the Italian regions, faultless message. And if the bearer of the message “The scenario has changed, “ he admitted. “And, if before Covid-19, taking into account that “For American people, Italian food is a real launched during a webinar organised by Vinitaly 20 percent of our wine business was in the hands of restaurants, comfort food” – and, on the other hand, the force of story-telling. Q and by the Italian-American Cham- whereas retail represented 8 percent, today the percentages have “American consumers are particularly interested in receiving in- ber of Commerce in Chicago inverted.” formation concerning a wine production area, a , a wine- is none other than William Between April and May, according to Mr. Terlato, sales grew in re- maker, wine-growing, grape and winemaking phases,” he A. Terlato – managing di- tail shops, by 60percent and by 58 percent respectively. Bad news, said. “And the differences related to the varieties of wines.” rector of Terlato Wines In- unfortunately, for restaurants. “In the segment of high-quality wines, with consumer prices ternational, a wine-making, “Regretfully, I think that 25-30 percent of them will not open above 25 US dollar,” Mr. Terlato explained, “There is a strong com- trading and importing com- again,” he said. “After all, the procedures are complex: take peo- petition, but however, there is no lack of opportunities, if you can Bill Terlato pany, leader in the market of ple’s temperature, purify air, maintain distancing... It is compli- understand the consumer’s needs.” high-end wines in the United cated, some restaurants will not reopen.” High-quality is required and sought after and, in some cases, the States – then we have to rely on In any case, according to Mr. Terlato, “Consumers will not stop purchase bar has been set higher. “Those who were ready to pay his opinion. drinking wine, even if they will readdress their purchases, tak- even 100 dollar for a high-quality at a restaurant,” Mr. Introduced by Silvia Raffa, ing into account that Covid-19 has accelerated the awareness to Terlato stressed. “Will try to improve the quality of their drinking managing director of the Ital- wide-ranging issues, such as the attention to climate changes, at home and will be ready to pay 75 dollar to buy a wine at a shop.” ian American Chamber of sustainability and biodiversity. These were already hot topics, but An essential and deeply American suggestion, which is linked Commerce in Chi- in this phase, attention has increased.” with profit: “Never lower the price. If you are ready to reduce it by cago, and inter- 10 percent, they will probably ask you to decrease it by 30 percent, viewed by Amy Interest In A Full-Scope Sustainability therefore you should avoid the so-called discount operations.” Ezrin, wine ex- With regard to sustainability, in particular, Mr. Terlato has a clear These are extremely useful indications for of Italian pert, importer view. wines. and consultant “We have to consider that our interlocutor will not only be inter- “In order to provide contacts and opportunities from the experi- in the wine sec- ested in environmental sustainability related to grape growing ence of Vinitaly to know the dynamics of a marketplace, such as tor, William (Bill) and the way wine is produced,” he said. “But also to its packaging, the American one, which is deeply changing and which, despite Terlato has illus- transportation and logistics on the whole.” the difficulties of the current situation, represents an opportunity trated the most To the numerous participants of the webinar, Mr. Terlato point- for Italian enterprises,” said Giovanni Mantovani, general man- recent changes ed out two aspects that favour Italian winemakers in relation to ager of Veronafiere.

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special edition 12 by NEWS FROM WINE2WINE

THE TRENDS OF THE ITALIAN MARKET IN A ROUND TABLE AT WINE2WINE 2020 WINE AND MASS MARKET RETAIL DISTRIBUTION IN THE YEAR OF COVID-19 Shelf (and Online) Sales Are Taking Off,

ButBut WhatWhat AboutAbout 2021?2021? At the beginning of November, wine sales in the mass retail channel at +6.9 percent in terms of value and at 5.3 percent in volumes, with an upsurge from the end of October due to fears of a new lockdown. However, in future, we will come back to normal trends of growth. Here are the scenario analyses by Virgilio Romano (IRI) and the performances of some big groups in the Italian mass-market retail distribution: , Selex and . Expectations and proposals of the production world in the words of Enrico Gobino (Mondodelvino) and Mirko Baggio (Villa Sandi). by OMAR BISON

lso in Italy, f on 25 October (see chart) returned to the historical In detail, if we analyse the fig- ways at the end of October), according to the increases stood at trends before the pandemic”. ures of the chart (below), we no- DOC wines are in top position,” a trend that +5.7 percent with regard An evaluation that “should tice how in general Spumanti he said. “Followed by IGT and was common Ito values and at +4.4 percent in reassure us, because it means had a very bad month of April then by table wines. It is a con- to all world volume terms, the new signif- that consumers are inclined due to Covid and a toned-down firmation of what we have been markets hit by the pandemic, icant upswing of Covid cases and ready to return to a sit- Easter, losing the drive of the saying for a long time. DOC Athe year 2020 saw a remarka- and the fear of new closures uation of normalcy,” the re- second most important festiv- and DOCG wines are growing ble growth of wine sales in the have been enough to increase, searcher at IRI said. “And thus ity after Christmas and report- in proportion to the growth of mass-market retail channel. To in few days, the volumes of the effects on the Mass Mar- ing the worst monthly trend investment in assortments, be- show a picture of the Italian wine sales in the mass retail ket Retail related to this par- over the last six years. cause consumers are searching case study, experts, winemak- channel by 0.9 percent for val- ticular period will be positive, “But from May, Spumanti and for them, having a perception ers and representatives of big ues accounting for +1.2 percent but in the short term. This is Prosecco have started to sell of quality, in relation to an in- groups of the large-scale retail on a yearly basis. highlighted by the data of the rapidly again,” Mr. Romano un- teresting price. This trend in distribution met during the The figures of a trend that month of October showing derlined. “As much as they did the period March-April came round table “Wine and Mass marked the lockdown weeks in growing trends compared with in the months before the pan- to a halt, because in that peri- Retail Distribution facing the particular have been illustrat- the same period of last year, demic, growing more than still od it was no longer possible to Change,” held at wine2wine ed and commented by Virgilio exactly when the Covid cases wines. This is further confir- go shopping where you wanted 2020 – the traditional autumn Romano, Business Insight Di- have started to spread again”. Virgilio Romano, business mation that Italians are ready and you had to do it in a hurry, exhibition of Veronafiere,rector at IRI (world leader in As regards 2020, “We registered insight director at IRI to recover and to behave as be- favouring the category of ta- launching its seventh edition market information for Large- some peaks among the highest fore the virus”. ble wines available mainly in and taking place in a com- Scale Consumption, Retail and and the lowest ever recorded in If we look at the other catego- superettes and minimarkets, pletely digital version from 21 Shopper). the last six years,” Mr. Romano ries, there is an odd trend of where assortments are smaller to 24 November. In the first 45 “The odd situation due to the pointed out. “In particular, we DOC (Controlled Designation and prices are good. But when weeks of the year, wine sales health crisis in the months refer to Spumanti and, most of of Origin), DOCG (Controlled we came back to normal, and in the mass retail distribution of March, April and May had all, to Prosecco, or to the 1.5-li- and Guaranteed Designation this will probably be the fu- channel grew by +6.9 percent a quite significant impact on tre sizes, which had lost much of Origin), IGT (Regional Geo- ture, DOC wines have started to in value terms and by +5.3 per- the total data of the first ten for a long time, but are cur- graphic Indication) and table go up again and more rapidly cent in volumes, with irregular months of 2020,” Mr. Romano rently showing rates of growth wines, where the rankings of than table wines”. trends, related to the periods of explained. “Even if, when we never seen before. We should so much with such a fall of March and April and the yearly And what can we expect in closures and mobility restric- came back to a substantial- not forget that even superettes promotional pressure. All this total have inverted. 2021? tions, which led to a recent ly normal situation after the and minimarkets sales have proves that we experienced “In March and April we saw ta- “As soon as the extraordinary upsurge between the end of lockdown between June and never increased so much as such a particular year that it is ble wines growing in first place period comes to an end, we will October and 8 November, due September, the purchase and in the month of April. In gen- difficult to think that we will and then IGT and DOC wines, return to the historical trends to fears of a new lockdown. consumption data and trends eral, sales have never grown be able to repeat it in 2021”. whereas on a yearly total (al- with two substantial differenc-

WINE SALES IN LARGE-SCALE DISTRIBUTION IN THE FIRST 10 MONTHS OF 2020

Numbers as of 10/25/2020 March-April 2020 Value % Avg. Avg. % price Value % Avg. Avg. % price Area PRODUCT Vol. % Ch. Value Ch. (in ,000 Vol. % Ch. Value Ch. (in ,000 Vol. (hL.) in hL. (,000 Euros) price per Lt. Vol. (hL.) in hL. (,000 Euros) price per Lt. vs 2019* Euros) vs 2019** per Lt. vs 2019*** vs 2019* Euros) vs 2019** per Lt. vs 2019*** Total Wine 5,647,264 4.4 1,708,564 5.7 3.0 1.3 1,577,513 12.8 471,242 12.0 3.0 -0.7 ITALY'S Doc/Docg Wine 1,945,726 5.2 898,259 6.4 4.6 1.2 537,615 9.9 244,405 9.7 4.5 -0.2 HYPERMARKETS, Igt Wine 1,474,666 4.7 457,891 7.1 3.1 2.3 402,956 13.1 125,456 15.0 3.1 1.7 SUPERMARKETS 2,195,526 3.9 338,146 3.0 1.5 -0.8 628,975 16.1 97,787 15.8 1.6 -0.2 AND DISCOUNT Foreign Wine 31,346 -20.1 14,268 -11.7 4.6 10.5 7,967 -27.5 3,594 -18.8 4.5 12.0 STORES Champagne+Spumante 590,581 10.1 386,014 10.5 6.5 0.3 138,343 -5.3 88,228 -4.2 6.4 1.2 (7456) Prosecco 285,203 21.4 190,687 18.1 6.7 -2.7 68,784 7.6 46,455 10.1 6.8 2.4 * Volume percentage change in Hectolitres compared to the same period in 2019 ** Value percentage change in ,000 Euros compared to the same period in 2019 *** Price percentage change per Litre compared to the same period in 2019 NEWS FROM WINE2WINE by 13

interrupting the decrease in favour of new that examples of this new trend in twenty items of important consumption”. have a higher Italian character the transformation as spuman- wine-growing and wine-mak- Important figures are high- and regional connotation. The ti of three famous wines from ing companies, ‘Fior Fiore’ line lighted in the segment of bub- sparkling-process know-how is the region Campania, Greco, Fi- is dedicated to specific projects bly wines. spreading in Italy, where tech- ano and Rosé di and in cooperation with Ais,” Mr. “As far as the classic-meth- nological modernisation in the also in small projects like the Scarcelli said. “We are record- od Spumanti, this year we are cellar matches with product Novebolle Romagna DOC Spu- ing positive trends, even high- recording a growth of over 20 innovation, in order to offer the mante.” er than the average of their es,” Mr. Romano noted. “The ic drinks department at Coop points at Conad,” Ms. Corsi con- consumer an innovative bub- Even our private-label wines wine category. Being particu- year 2021 will be compared Italia. “With regard to Spuman- tinued. “This increase is slight- bly wine, capable of recalling have followed the positive larly influenced by the promo- with a very well-performing ti, we even stand at +8 percent. ly higher than that of Prosecco, the local character of the ter- trend of the market. tional activities, the ‘Assieme’ 2020 and therefore, there will In the lockdown period, it was which is however very interest- roir of origin. We can find some “For our private-label wines, line is reporting a moderate be a high figure, with which Prosecco that supported the ing and always a double-digit we expect a year-end closing reduction. We can say that it will be difficult to make a whole category. Today, Prosec- rise. Through their purchases, with a double-digit growth that everyday wine is slightly comparison. In addition, there co keeps on selling very well, consumers have been show- compared with 2019, with sales decreasing¸ whereas the me- is the phenomenon of pur- because we are at +16 percent, ing appreciation for both dry increases in terms of value and dium/high-quality, selected chases from home and on- but also the classical-method Charmat and classic-method volumes,” Fabio Sordi of Se- wine is selling well”, to such an line. For a long time, online Italian Spumanti have start- sparkling wines. An interesting lex said. “It is also interesting extent as to change the promo- retail has already increased by ed again to grow attaining +11 phenomenon to be observed: to observe a constant rise in tion policy in the sales outlets 30-40 percent every year, but percent. On the contrary, sweet spumanti made with interna- Here below: Fabio Sordi, the sales of medium/high-end and the set-up of shelves and with the pandemic outbreak, Spumanti are suffering, stand- tional varietals, which were of- sales director at Selex Group products with prices above 6 corners. online purchases quintupli- ing at -10 percent, especial- ten used for Italian Spumanti Further down: Alessandra Corsi, euro. In our opinion, this is a “We are qualifying high-end cated. There has been a slight ly due to the Easter decrease, in the past (e.g. Pinot and Char- sales marketing and sign of the loyalty of our cus- wines,” he said. “Without for- slowdown after the period of which could no longer be re- donnay), are slowing down in private-label manager at Conad tomers and of our good work on getting more affordable and March-April, but online retail covered. Champagne regains the quality/price ratio”. everyday wine categories, both remains at high levels and we strength if we consider that in At Conad, Alessandra Corsi in terms of product and of sales are convinced that a part of the the lockdown months, it even speaks of extraordinary per- outlet. We have organised a people that experienced this reached -50 percent and now formances of private-label more understandable store set- purchasing method will go on going up until October, it is at wines, “which are registering up with a more immediate im- using it. Therefore, a part of the -5 percent. If we consider the a growth that is significant- pact in relation to the local ter- sales will go from the physical rest of the wines, equally di- ly higher than the rest of the roirs of origin, the typologies to the virtual retail, because vided between white and red market. However, we suffered and the assortments. Moreover, people appreciate its conveni- wines, we stand at + 6 percent. in the segment of table wines, we have distanced table wines, ence and service.” Rosé wines are dropping (-3 where the increased promo- available also in ‘brik’ and On the other hand, in terms of percent), whereas table wines tional intensity of famous ‘bag in box,’ from IGT wines, macro trend, what will remain maintain a positive outcome brands was stronger. Essential- displaying them almost as a of the phenomena we are ex- (+3 percent), even if decreased ly, I would like to stress that sort of cross category of the gas- periencing? What will happen, compared with the double-dig- the phenomenon of ‘drinking tronomy world. Even more, we for example, to a small mini- it growth obtained during the less but well’ is constantly ex- consider it necessary to guar- market in a district, which has lockdown, when people looked panding and accelerated in the antee the consumers the pres- been growing a lot in this pe- for an everyday wine that they current year, bringing forth ence of professional figures to riod? could buy quickly. Today, the important increases with re- facilitate their purchases of And where will it be worth in- line of IGT wines is achieving gard to wines also with prices high-value wines and make vesting on the large size, with +6 percent, with the categories above 8 euro. Therefore, we will wine-food pairing recommen- the 1.5-litre size in constant of white (+6.5 percent), red (+5.5 continue in the improvement dations. For this reason, we decline for years and a bag in percent) and rosé (-3 percent) process of assortments already are training professional fig- box increasing in the last two wines”. started several years ago.” ures that are different from years, but still weighing too lit- “Also for Selex, DOC and DOCG A more detailed analysis was promoters and we often have tle in terms of turnover? wines have more than dou- provided by COOP, which has attending events “The companies should won- bled,” Fabio Sordi, sales di- two private-label lines: “As- within our sales outlets. If pro- der if in these macro trends rector of the Group, said. “As it sieme”, with everyday-con- motional activity is fair, it can there is something destined to has already occurred for many sumption labels, and “Fior drive consumption awareness, strengthen, developing to meet years, compared with table Fiore”, created to enhance the but if it is excessive, it only the new and different needs wines and, in general, our wine excellence of DOC wines and creates loyalty to the event and of consumers,” Mr. Romano turnover has lapped the growth their of origin. the related offer, but not to the commented. “We have to un- of the market. Dry Spumanti “With 450,000 bottles for product.” derstand if there is something are rising, even if not all vari- concrete capable of helping us eties for Spumanti are equally in our growth, going beyond successful, whereas sweet bub- the strong fluctuations of a bly wines are in difficulty”. year that maybe we will not ex- A double-digit upturn for the perience again.” whole wine sector in the cur- THE WINERIES’ OPINION rent year was recorded by Remarkable Increases Conad “with a better trend For The Mass Market than the one registered in rom this pandemic we have learned “The challenge of the future for wine-growing Retail Groups the market,” said Alessan- that we can face market turbu- and wine-making companies will be to change The general trend of growth dra Corsi, sales marketing lence with an appropriate produc- their way of approaching the market,” Mr. Bag- for wine sales in terms of value and private-label manager at tion-chain policy that protects the gio said. “By diversifying the channels and the and volumes is confirmed by Conad of the Group. “To drive interestsF of all links in the chain,” Enrico Gobi- proposal to guarantee a balance. To reach the the speeches of the representa- the growth in our sales out- no, marketing manager of Mondodelvino Group, market by offering different lines also with sim- tives of the Mass Market Retail lets are all high-quality wines said summarising a feeling that is common in ilar products: more dedicated terroirs, more DOC Distribution taking part in the (IGP, DOC, DOCG), attaining the wine production world. “We also understood wines, more brands and more lines of the same debate. double-digit increases, where- that all companies, in proportion to the market product typology”. “Today at Coop, if we sum up all as we see a slight decrease in of reference, have to follow well-balanced distri- Also because maybe something is changing in ranges, the trend of wines until the segment of dessert wines. bution models, capable of holding out, as they the Mass Retail Channel buyers’ approach. October is positive compared The upswing of high-quality are based on different channels”. “I think that the recent lockdown made the with the same period in 2019,” wines has been an important “As far as we are concerned, and I think this is Mass Retailers understand that they should buy said Francesco Scarcelli, head event for several years, further a common tendency,” Mr. Gobino stressed. “Dur- not only conventional promotional wines,” he of the wines, beers and alcohol- enhanced during 2020, due the ing the lockdown period, the Mass Market Retail said. “But a balanced assortment that also takes reduced opportunity of out-of- Distribution compensated, even if not complete- quality into more consideration. We hope that home consumption. Even the ly, the losses of the on-trade channel. Globally, we this will be a long-lasting tendency and that phenomenon of ‘drinking less Over here: Enrico Gobino, did not have any turnover reduction as a group, attention will be focused more on sweet beverages’ has been in marketing manager at and, generally speaking, we can say that mobil- quality and less on prices. We progress for years, not only for Mondodelvino Group ity limitations during the lockdown created a will rely a lot on the novelty the category of wines and spu- Bottom right: consumption concentration, which would have of Prosecco rosé, as we are manti, but also for the whole Mirko Baggio, sales manager normally been spread over other channels. Con- convinced that this type of sector of carbonated and fruit- for the Italian Retail sumers preferred items with favourable prices spumante will be successful, based drinks. The Covid period Distribution of Villa Sandi and in bigger sizes, such as for example bag in which today covers less than has substantially improved the box. In addition, these formats also have features 3 percent of the market. It performances of the category of high environmental sustainability, an aspect will become a full-meal of DOC wines, which were al- that the consumers are beginning to consider.” product that can be ready in excellent condition Multi-channel distribution for winemakers and more easily matched in the mass retail distribution a new awareness of the Mass Market Retailers to- with food, as Pinot Francesco Scarcelli, head channel, whereas table wines wards quality. These are the points analysed also noir gives more of the wines, beers and alcoholic contributed to this year’s posi- by Mirko Baggio, sales manager for the Italian structure and per- drinks department at Coop Italia tive results in a significant way, Retail Distribution of Villa Sandi. sistence to wines.” 14 by HARVESTING IN 2020

he quality and quantity trends of with late harvest still in the vineyard. the harvest (in the closing bal- Excellent grape quality, production down 2 percent The first region to pick grape bunches was Sicily ance outlined by Unione Italiana compared to 2019 and holding its value. This is the at the end of July, followed (as per tradition) by Vini, Assoenologi and ISMEA at Puglia, Lombardy and in the first the end of almost all of the har- summary of the final assessment of the vintage ten days of September. Work has terminated in vest work) confirm excellent grapes combined outlined by Unione Italiana Vini, Assoenologi most Italian regions, much of the harvest in It- Twith a decrease in volume. A quality defined as and ISMEA. A favourable basis for facing market aly was concentrated in the last ten days of Sep- “excellent” in all the vineyard areas of the coun- tember and the first week of October. In some try is offset by another aspect which is seen by challenges. A detailed analysis of the vintage trend. areas the harvest is still in progress and, thanks the world of production as “positive,” given the to the rain in this period, further weight losses difficult market situation: a further decline in have been avoided in these cases, with grapes % variation REGION 2019 2020* quantity on last year, compared to the original 2019/2020* still of excellent quality. forecast, bringing the estimate of total wine and ITALIAN PRODUCTION Piedmont 2,603 2,681 3% must production to 46.6 million hectolitres, -2 OF WINE AND MUST Valle d’Aosta 17 19 10% An Account of Quality and Quantity percent compared to 47.5 million hectolitres in (thousands of hectoliters) Lombardy 1,301 1,431 10% The slight decrease in volume, compared to what 2019, placing the current harvest below the aver- Trentino-S.T. 1,312 1,378 5% was forecast in early September, was due to low- age of the last five years. Veneto 10,950 11,059 1% er yields both in the vineyard and in the cellar. “Nature has managed to counterbalance an ex- Friuli V.G. 1,785 1,624 -9% Everything can be ascribed to the high temper- tremely difficult year with a very positive (in Liguria 40 44 10% atures in August and September combined with Emilia-Romagna 7,250 7,975 10% some cases unforgettable) harvest,” Ernesto Tuscany 2,625 2,074 -21% low rainfall, which affected bunch weight and Abbona, president of Unione Italiana Vini, com- Umbria 426 383 -10% increased the pulp/skin ratio. mented. Marches 816 857 5% The quality level has increased week by week, Mr. Abbona said that strong action in support of Lazio 800 720 -10% with peaks of excellence almost throughout the the market is necessary from the institutions Abruzzo 3,184 3,375 6% whole country. that have to manage the pandemic with caution, Molise 227 233 2% The rain only arrived at the end of September without slowing down work on international Campania 778 778 0% and, in some cases, these were very heavy rains promotion. Apulia 8,947 8,231 -8% that were some cause for concern, though they Basilicata 87 83 -5% This excellent grape quality will be a strategic Source: Agea Production statements Calabria 110 110 0% didn’t affect overall quality. asset for the future, commented Riccardo Co- for 2019 and estimates for 2020* by Sicily 3,911 3,129 -20% The change in the weather at the end of Septem- tarella, president of Assoenologi and according Assoenologi, Ismea, Unione Italiana Vini, Sardinia 363 436 20% ber/beginning of October, led to an acceleration to whom “The 2020 vintage has given us very October 25, 2020 TOTAL 47,533 46,620 -2% in work at the end of the harvest, which has now high-quality grapes also thanks to a slight de- terminated in most regions, slightly earlier than crease in quantity. After all, it is well-known that channels, managing to place products even dur- in white wines and good levels of alcohol and last year. we have always considered the quality intrinsic ing a time when the HORECA channel was total- notable colour intensity in red wines. In fact, in general it was possible to harvest to our wines to be the only element that can give ly blocked, also thanks to a strong acceleration Not all regions, however, report a decrease in bunches with perfect phytosanitary condi- value to Italian wine, in addition to our immense in the digitalisation of the sector.” production. In particular, it was the central and tions, also thanks to good day-night temper- biodiversity,” a quality that “will be the added southern Italian regions that were most affected ature swings, which favoured aromatic and value of a vintage that has been lived through Climate Trend and Grape Harvest by the climate trend and where the most marked polyphenolic concentration of grapes. There- with a sense of concern that has gripped us for In 2020, rainfall was well-distributed in spring decreases were recorded, with 21 percent lower fore, we can confirm the assessment of “excel- months, due to aspects linked to the pandemic.” and summer and temperatures were normal, in Tuscany and 20 percent lower in Sicily. Veneto lent” for the 2020 vintage, which stands out for Although the sector “is facing difficulties de- except for some peaks in the summer which retains the record, thanks to new vineyards, and its widespread high quality, though with lower riving from the pandemic with great energy,” affected the quantity of the harvest in some re- the whole of the north recorded average produc- quantities than last year, but where the overall Raffaele Borriello, General Director of ISMEA, gions. This climate trend basically favoured good tion compared to the past five years. quality is very comforting and excellent wines said, “There are more and more companies that ripening, both for grape health and quality, with The 2020 vintage took place with the same timing are anticipated as a good omen for a relaunch have set up a process to diversify distribution excellent concentration of aromatic substances as a traditional year and is now coming to an end, period.

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BAROLO WHEN THE ORIGIN MARKS THE SUCCESS OF A WINE

by GIANCARLO MONTALDO

f we want to pinpoint crease in 4 percent compared “Barolo’s success is due to many the start of ‘mod- to the same period in 2019. This factors,”he said. “But one of ern Barolo’, the most may also have been aided by the the most important is its abil- plausible date is April 2016, a vintage of high-quality ity to stand the test of time, 23, 1966, when Barolo and appeal, entering the market that marked longevity that has was recognised as a DOC wine. on January 1, 2020, when it im- placed it among the great red IThe second date is July 1st, 1980, mediately garnered success and wines produced in the world.” with attainment of DOCG sta- the enthusiasm from Barolo Michele Chiarlo and his son tus. The DOCG is universally lovers and connoisseurs all over Stefano offer up a well-struc- considered to be the fundamen- the world. tured observation. tal stage, because it carries out “The great merit for Barolo’s the passage from control on The Reasons success goes to its uniqueness,” paper to a physical one, with Behind Its Success he said. “Extraordinary com- the ‘DOCG neck sticker’ which The points of view are manifold, plexity, marked elegance and ensures the bottle count and and so are the reasons that have great talent for longevity. Dur- guarantees the correspondence brought Barolo’s success on ing the second half of the 1980s, between production potential the national and international an intense competition began and real production. markets. A success with distant between producers which led Another crucial moment is the origins, which has seen a strong to surprising results for Barolo’s period during the late 1980s and acceleration in the last few dec- identity.” early 1990s, with the triptych of ades. Let’s start with the opin- Exploring the world of jour- great vintages: 1988, 1989, 1990. ions of some producers. nalism, we cannot but speak During this phase, Barolo began Luigi Bersano of MGM Mondo to Alessandro Masnaghetti of to make a comeback, also on an del Vino has no doubts. the Enogea magazine, who has international level. From that “Apart from the ‘integral’ ele- devoted special attention to moment, the trade of the rest The spotlight is on the identity ments of the wine,”he said. “I Barolo during his professional of the world was convinced that of Piedmont’s world-beater and believe two factors have deter- life. He has clear ideas. Barolo could belong to that lim- mined Barolo’s change of gear “The main reason for Barolo’s ited circle of wines with unique the reasons for its growing success and its increase in image. On success lies in the minds of the characteristics that can stand the one hand, the strong in- producers, in their attitude, in the test of time. over the years, as well as the crease in the number of pro- their way of tackling the sub- The last strategic stage of Baro- relationship with the ducers, whether small or large, jects of production and the lo’s pathway is the date of Sep- with synergic effects on the market,” he said. “They are peo- tember 30, 2010, with the launch variety in reinforcing its identity ability of the wine and its sector ple who reason, who work hard, of the new production regula- and enhancement due to MeGAs to penetrate world markets; on who don’t wallow in self-pity, tions, the ones officialising the the other, the contribution of who prefer to go on the attack Additional Geographical Men- (Additional Geographical Mentions), From left to right: territorial food tourism, which rather than the defence when tions, the portions of territory of and finally its role as ambassador LUIGI BERSANO of MGM has brought enthusiasts from facing a problem.” origin more commonly defined MONDO DEL VINO, FIORENZO all over the world to the Langhe Carlo Macchi, editor of the on- as ‘crus’ or ‘vineyards of par- of the territory, also from the point DOGLIANI of BATASIOLO, area to discover the greatness of line magazine Winesurf, has a the CHIARLO FAMILY of ticular value’. of view of wine tourism MICHELE CHIARLO WINERY, Barolo in person.” more academic approach. Since 1966, there has been a cre- ALESSANDRO MASNAGHETTI Fiorenzo Dogliani of Batasiolo “Among the many factors at scendo in terms of identity, im- of the MAGAZINE ENOGEA adds other elements. the base of Barolo’s success, we age and economic evaluation, though bearing in mind the ups and downs (as is the nature of things) that have come along during the various decades due to various, and not always inte- rior, factors. The identity of Barolo has re- mained unscathed, or maybe even strengthened, during the critical period of Covid-19. It may seem strange, or at least unexpected, but in the first ten months of 2020, the bottling of Barolo wine recorded an in- photo ©Pesce 2014 CV 285x420[2020]singolaENG.qxp_Layout113/07/2012:27Pagina fraz. Cappelli33/b,12040Ceresoled’Alba (Cn) GAI SINCE1946BOTTLINGLINES1.000-20.000 B/H email: [email protected]:www.gai-it.com tel. +39 0172 574 416 - fax +39 0172 574 088 we designit,build we bottleit

Scriba Studio / ph Paolo Marchisio special edition APPELLATIONS by 17

to great effect, which helps to change. Barolo without spec- underline the value that the ification must age for at least word Barolo already brings with 38 months from 1st November it. In fact, combining the two after the harvest, 18 of which in elements in the name would wooden containers; for Barolo probably have complicated Riserva, minimum ageing in- the situation and flattened the creases to 62 months with the identity of Barolo compared to same calculation and the same other wines that bear the same period in wood. Lastly, Barolo reference to the grape variety.” Chinato is regulated by Art. 7 of “The vast majority of the most the regulations and its name prestigious wines in the world is reserved for the aromatised only bear the geographical wine prepared with a Barolo name of origin on the label,” base wine and aromatised to al- Michele Chiarlo underlined. low a reference to cinchona. need to underline three,” he you have to drink Barolo. There’s created the Nebbiolo munici- “Therefore, the decision not to There remains the case sui gen- said. “First of all, the produc- no middle way. Barolo is unique pality appellations (Barolo, Bar- add the name of the grape va- eris of the MeGAs, Additional Ge- tion numbers, also thanks to and has become even more so in baresco, Gattinara, Carema...), riety was definitely a wise one. ographical Mentions. They are cautious management of the the last 25-30 years, with the in- but enthusiasts and competent The success of Barolo has led to not a true wine type, but they vineyard potential; secondly, crease in the number of produc- consumers of old. Identifying the enhancement of wines like could become such over time, at the great willingness of produc- ers and their spasmodic search a wine with the name of the Nebbiolo d’Alba or Langhe Neb- least the ones most claimed by ers to welcome visitors, even for the best at all costs. And territory of origin and not the biolo, considered simpler in- producers and well-known. In just tourists and enthusiastic then, it’s made with Nebbiolo, grape variety avoids easy imita- terpretations of Nebbiolo than any case, even if the MeGAs take consumers; lastly, the high and possibly the most spectacular tions and safeguards the ‘merit’ Barolo.” on more importance in future, constantly-increasing overall player in the Italian vineyard. of those who have given their The press is on the same wave- this will not lower the appeal of quality of the wine. Each year Even if its name does not ap- commitment, dedication and length, too. Alessandro Masna- the Barolo appellation. In fact, you discover that they have pear on the label, its contribu- stubbornness to reach excellent ghetti, historic founder of Eno- Barolo with a MeGA compared been doing something new and tion to quality and uniqueness results.” gea and dynamic map maker of to Barolo without any other concrete at the various winer- is irrefutable.” The words of Matteo Ascheri, the world’s great wine regions, specification, just adds a further ies, to improve the quality and president of the Barolo Barba- has no doubt. reference of origin. appeal of their Barolo.” The Link With Nebbiolo resco Alba Langhe and Dogliani “Even if it’s called Nebbiolo, the An important aspect in favour of Kerin O’Keefe, author of ‘Barolo It is a well-known fact that Consortium, also contain a ref- grape variety wouldn’t have MeGas lies in the fact that dur- and – The King and Barolo is made with 100 percent erence to history. added anything to the name,” ing the 2018 vintage, 59 percent Queen of Italian Wine’ (Uni- Nebbiolo and perhaps this is “The duo of names, Barolo and he said. “Also because it has be- of the Barolo produced claimed versity of California Press, 2014) why nobody has ever thought Nebbiolo, is historic, though come so important due to the the Additional Geographical and Italian Editor of Wine En- of using it as a reinforcing val- it is not obvious,” he said. “It fact that it produces great wines Mention, leaving 41 percent thusiast, also has clear ideas. ue. Some have clear ideas about is significant that produc- like Barolo and Barbaresco. If of Barolo production without “There are various factors, but this. And not just today. Erne- ers favoured the geographical anything, reference to it is use- any specification or Riserva. obviously the most important sto Abbona, owner of Marchesi reference already during the ful to enrich the story that it al- Of the 181 MeGAs inserted into is the quality of the wine itself,” di Barolo, the historic winery nineteenth century. It is a leg- ready tells.” the production regulations, 153 she said. “Barolo is a world-beat- producing this wine, as well as acy we need to hold on tight to, According to Carlo Macchi, “The were claimed during the 2018 er. The best ones combine struc- president of Unione Italiana even if, we mustn’t generalise. use of the variety in the name vintage, 84 percent of the total. ture and elegance, have an ap- Vini, states this clearly. Abandoning the reference to would not have added anything This underlines the value that pealing aroma and the depth of “The geographical reference is the variety and resorting to the more with respect to the refer- producers attribute to MeGAs the unique flavours of Nebbiolo the essential element,” he said. exclusive use of the territorial ence of origin. In fact, today it in tune with the appellation as and they have great ageing po- “And Barolo is the confirmation origin has not always given the would complicate the situation, well as positive acceptance by tential which generates more of this. The Barolo appellation desired results. Iconic cases in causing confusion and an inef- the market. complexity. It should also be contains everything, the aris- the Langhe area are Diano d’Al- ficient analogy with other ap- “The decision of the MeGAs is said that improvements, both tocratic nature of Nebbiolo, the ba and Dogliani, where giving pellations.” a winning one,” Matteo Asche- in vineyard and cellar practices, steadfast structure of the Lan- up the name didn’t en- Kerin O’Keefe’s opinion follows ri said. “The confirmation lies have made Barolo more flexible ghe area, the success of a com- able them to face other negative along the same lines. in the systematic relationship and graceful than before, espe- pelling story and the unique issues under discussion.” “I don’t think the name Neb- that the Consortium has with cially regarding the increasing- features of a cold and temperate Gian Luigi Biestro’s point of biolo on the label would have producers, from the smallest to ly noble tannins. This means climate.” view is clear too (former direc- helped Barolo,” she said. “Neb- the largest-sized ones. In future that it is no longer necessary to Despite the limited spread of tor of Vignaioli Piemontesi and biolo is experiencing a moment they deserve a more innovative wait twenty or thirty years be- Nebbiolo (the total vineyard member of the National Com- of glory today and has made and bolder management, giving fore enjoying a Barolo, although surface area in the world is less mittee for Designation of Origin itself known to fine wine lov- space to the many theories that the best vintages still have great than 7,500 hectares), this varie- Wines). ers, but until not so long ago it have recently filled institution- ageing potential. For example, ty interprets different areas of “The decision made many wasn’t a well-known name like al debates. I am referring to the I find the 2008 wines perfect Piedmont with authority and, years ago was the right one,” he or , opportunity to further under- today, as well as the 2010 ones, what’s more, creates other ap- said. “And I don’t believe that for example. Even without line MeGAs, at least the most but both still have many years pellation wines identified ex- the dual name with Nebbiolo having the name Nebbiolo on claimed ones, without weaken- ahead of them. Other things clusively by place name (Bar- would have brought any further the label, Barolo and also Bar- ing their link with Barolo. This have helped Barolo to success: baresco, Albugnano, Gattinara, advantages from the point of baresco have taken Nebbiolo to would enable us to highlight the name is easy to pronounce Ghemme, Gavi...). A pulverisa- view of identity or personality. its current success, just as Bur- Barolo more strongly, which for everyone, which is no small tion that is never accused of cre- What’s more, Barolo is also pho- gundy reds created the success could increase market prices, thing for the export market. ating confusion for the con- netically a very appealing name of Pinot Nero, which never ap- especially of bottled wine.” From left to right: Also the fact it is made with a sumer, unlike other varieties. and, therefore, didn’t need any pears on the label.” “Recourse to the Mentions has CARLO MACCHI, WINESURF'S native grape and gives a great “If the place of origin adds spec- other support.” met the need of every produc- EDITOR, KERIN O'KEEFE, ITALIAN EDITOR of WINE expression of the territory has ificity to all great wines,” Mr. Ab- The producers are also on the The Wine Types er, i.e. the desire to differentiate ENTHUSIAST, FELICE ROCCA helped Barolo to achieve its cur- bona commented. “This is even same wavelength. Very few have And The MeGAs himself from others,” Gian Lui- of the FELICIN RESTAURANT rent success.” truer for Nebbiolo, the vine that posed the problem, because The production regulations gi Biestro echoed“After all, every in MONFORTE, ERNESTO In the catering world, the most more than any other demon- that’s how it’s always been, but identify three types for Baro- appellation (also prestigious ABBONA, PROPRIETOR of the MARCHESI DI BAROLO WINERY, eminent voice is Felice Rocca’s, strates a great capacity to adapt, there is a reason that has found lo: Barolo without specifica- ones like Barolo) brings with it MATTEO ASCHERI, DIRECTOR ‘Nino’ to his friends, owner of in true symbiosis with the ter- consensus with Luigi Bersano tion, Barolo Riserva and Barolo some homogenisation between of the CONSORTIUM BAROLO, the Felicin di Monforte restau- ritory it grows on, transporting of Mondo del Vino and Fiorenzo Chinato. Each one has its own the various territories.” BARBARESCO, ALBA, LANGHE rant. the soil characteristics, expo- Dogliani of Batasiolo. specific production conditions, “We were one of the first, right AND DOGLIANI e GIAN LUIGI “Unique wine quality and type sure and microclimate faithful- “The reference to the variety with particular reference to from the early 1970s, to under- BIESTRO, FORMER DIRECTOR of the PIEDMONTESE WINE are at the base of Barolo’s suc- ly to the fruit: it wasn’t commu- is important in the descriptive compulsory ageing. Variety, stand Veronelli’s suggestion to PRODUCERS and MEMBER of the cess,” he said. “If you want to nication agencies, which didn’t phase of the wine,” he said. “It territorial origin, yield per hec- include some of the more fa- NATIONAL WINE COMMITTEE. experience those sensations even exist at the time, that becomes technical information tare and alcohol content don’t mous single vineyards on the

photo ©Paolo Tenti special edition APPELLATIONS by 19

label,” Ernesto Abbona, owner production procedures. As part avoiding conflicts and mis- of Marchesi di Barolo, said. “Af- of strengthening bottled Baro- understandings. On the other ter all, our family was already lo, we are working to improve hand, at a time when the man- making wine and selling Baro- quality and the image of our agement of Barolo vineyards is lo ‘Prima Marca Cannubi’ as winery’s brand. Naturally, we not able to accommodate all of well as Barolo Classico on the as well as that of bottle prices. accompany the market activi- those who would like to plant most prestigious markets at the So far, the dynamics of these ties with large structural invest- Nebbiolo for producing Barolo, start of the 1900s. Then, as now, prices have been left to sponta- ments to favour the market of having an alternative solution, we were excited by the increas- neous development, if not prey bottled wine, like the creation of halfway between Barolo and a ingly fascinating comparison to speculative events, alternate- spaces for wood ageing (20,000 young Langhe Nebbiolo, could between single vineyards and ly gratifying those who produce hectolitres) and for bottle mat- lead to very interesting solu- blending, heralding considera- and those who purchase. The uration (new storage areas for tions, both for a winery and the tions and stimuli towards con- Consortium’s position on this is over one million pieces).” sector. stant improvement in quality clear and has been expressed by and identity.” the president, Matteo Ascheri. The Great Phenomenon Quality Wine Tourism On the same wavelength, “The figure of a bottler is use- Of Langhe Nebbiolo This is another element of val- though with different nuances, ful for the current dynamics The Langhe appellation con- ue, i.e. the presence of tourist is Fiorenzo Dogliani and Luigi of Barolo,” he said. “But in the tains an extraordinary protag- flows for the last a couple of Bersano’s way of thinking. The future, the situation should onist, Langhe Nebbiolo. Langhe decades, spread over almost all former has no doubts, “The use evolve in a more qualified way. Nebbiolo makes up over 7 of the the months of the year, which of MeGAs doesn’t pose any risk Today’s bottler almost works in total 18 million bottles in this want to find out about the wine for the identity of Barolo. If an- haps, one day, the number of two parts. So, a quota of products a position of ‘taking advantage’ appellation. A part derives from and its characteristics and meet ything, it strengthens it;” while MeGAs actually used will de- with high prices has established of the situation, without over- its own vine growing potential, producers as the creators of a the latter, “MeGAs meet a con- crease according to market de- itself in time, repaying not only ly committing himself to the but a significant quota comes great development project. The crete need to distinguish a win- mand, but this will not reduce production costs, but also other promotion (also financial) of from the reclassification of presence of quality tourism, ery, which though enhancing their value.” factors (image, prestige, quality, Barolo. After all, the status quo top-level designations, Barolo, not just passing through, but the individual aspect, doesn’t Felice Nino Rocca of the Felicin unique nature of the wines and is alright for the bottler, includ- Barbaresco, Roero and Nebbiolo remaining in the area for a few harm the overall appellation.” di Monforte d’Alba restaurant, the wineries). Then there exists ing the favourable position that d’Alba. days, has made this economic A bit more analytical, but just as one of the traditional locations a Barolo sold at a lower price, not producers of this wine have es- If Barolo, in the ratio between sector grow, transforming an clear, is Michele Chiarlo’s way of that has played an important always coherent with the pres- tablished over time with their DOCG status claimed and wines operational commitment that thinking. role in creating the current tige and advantageous position activity. Ideally all of those who bottled, presents a satisfactory, remained complementary and “I believe the use of MeGAs is identity of Barolo, also has gained from the appellation. work with the Barolo appella- but not excellent, percentage economically inefficient for a fundamental factor in pro- something to say. This is a difficult problem to tion should develop the three (84 percent), this partly depends decades, into something au- moting Barolo,” he said. “Par- “As a restaurant owner, I say solve unless the whole appella- phases of wine, i.e. grape pro- on the fact that in the months thoritative. The fact that the ticularly the historic MeGAs, that MeGAs (or crus as we usu- tion is worked on. duction, winemaking and bot- following winemaking and the area of origin of Barolo belongs therefore the more famous ally call them) make up a fas- With regard to this, Claudio tling and bottle sales. claim, part of the wine is reclas- as a core zone to winegrowing ones, are a driving force for the cinating, but risky world, at the Conterno’s observation comes To obtain this objective means sified to Langhe Nebbiolo. landscapes of Langa-Roero and whole of Barolo; they stimulate same time,” he said. “Fascinat- in useful. He is a producer in planning the future in a dif- If this tends to modify the Monferrato, declared UNESCO the enthusiast to discover the ing because they give a further Monforte d’Alba and president ferent way, increasing the de- productive-statistical value World Heritage Sites a few years differences that exist between contribution to the global im- of CIA (confederation of Italian mand for Barolo on a global of Barolo, because part of the ago, has done nothing but in- different areas and make them age of Barolo, making it even farmers) of the province of Cu- level, replacing consumers of wine claimed migrates towards crease the attraction effect that appreciate the complexity of more appetising, stimulating neo. top-priced Barolos with oth- another appellation, it risks this production world exercises Barolo soils, bringing consid- research and awareness. Risky “I must start by saying that, for er consumers prepared to pay determining another, more over a quality and very sensitive erable benefit to the whole ap- because of the confusion they every great wine, the quality more. The promotional activity critical, consequence: or rather tourist flow. pellation. They are also strategic might generate for the less pre- pyramid must close at the top that we have planned and im- the presence of an amount of “Barolo, like all great wines, is commercially, since they are pared consumer. But, if it’s true with very small volumes, “Mr. plemented in favour of Barolo wine in Langhe Nebbiolo that an extraordinary ambassador present on the best wine lists in that Barolo is not for everyone, Conterno, who would like to falls within this context; such was created to be a young, ear- for its territory and its tourist the world and at very high pric- also the Mentions are deter- work on the various types of the as the event in the area called ly-drinking product and anoth- movement,” Ernesto Abbona es, attributing further prestige mining factors for that air of Barolo appellation, said. “Oth- Grandi Langhe and the one de- er part of wine created to stand concluded. “Strategically, the to the appellation.” prestige that makes the wine erwise, it either isn’t a quality veloped in New York, with the the test of time and, therefore, regional institutions should use Similar clear ideas come from even more appealing.” pyramid or it doesn’t work in 2021 project to take it to China, with different typological char- the best-known DOCG wines the specialised press, especially favour of a great wine.” covid permitting.” acters. This risks harming both to promote tourism on foreign Alessandro Masnaghetti, who General Economic Values Let’s take a look at his sugges- Also the Cantina Terre del Baro- appellations. markets. It is, in fact, complete- spent a lifetime alongside Ve- In 2019, the vineyard surface tion in more detail. “My sug- lo, one of the key players on the “Within the consortium we ly clear that, when a tourist has ronelli. During these years, two area of Barolo stood at 2,184 hec- gestion is to divide the whole bulk Barolo market, is on the are trying to remedy this gulf,” reached the area, it is easier and books have been written on the tares, about 100 hectares more of Barolo production into three same wavelength. Pietro Ratti, coordinator of the certainly less costly in terms of Barolo MeGAs. than in 2012 (2,046). Effective bands, tying them to objec- “The Terre del Barolo is work- Barolo Consulting Committee at promotional investments, to “In the world of Barolo, the Ad- production was 109,155 hectoli- tive situations deriving from ing hard to gradually take all the Consortium said. “To avoid a help them discover and appreci- ditional Geographical Mentions tres, i.e. 14,362,496 bottles, stable the territory itself. The top of of its Barolo towards the bot- situation where someone who ate other excellent winemaking are a beacon and, as such, rein- since 2013, with the exception the pyramid should belong to tled market,” director Stefano is looking for a young wine isn’t products, combining them with force the identity of the wine,” of 2014 (a more difficult year) Barolo with a reference to the Pesci confirmed. “And not only disappointed by finding a wine the beauty of the territory of or- he said. “And they are not an end when about 1 million fewer bot- ‘vineyard’ and relative place because we will maintain more with more challenging features igin. Also, for this reason, I hope in themselves. In fact, they of- tles were produced. A sore point name, but on condition of low added value in the winery and in the glass and vice versa. Vari- that other winegrowing areas fer an essential contribution to was the volume of wine bottled production per hectare (68-70 in vine growing, but also be- ous ideas are being assessed, one in Piedmont will abandon the the quality and image of Barolo in 2017 and 2018, with a reduc- quintals of grapes). To identify cause we will achieve better of the most accredited would names of the variety and adopt without any specification.” tion of about 1 million bottles the terrains that deserve the management of the produc- seem to be adding the type the names of the municipali- “If I had been consulted on this a year due to a slowing down ‘vineyard’ reference, I suggest tion potential and create other ‘Langhe Nebbiolo Superiore’ for ties as soon as possible: Barolo, subject a few years ago,” Carlo of the markets, especially for operating on vineyards planted operational advantages with wines that possess more struc- Barbaresco, Gattinara, Carema, Macchi explained. “When the Barolos with less quality appeal before 1990, looking for the best the strong management of the ture and longevity.” Nizza, Gavi... and, soon, Canelli, MeGAs had just been inserted and lesser-known brands. But positions, where the quality To clarify, the are simpler messages to convey. into the production regulations, the result for 2019, with 858,177 of the influences wine relationship They underline the identity of I would probably have had some more bottles, and also a positive quality. Barolo with Additional between the areas more and stimulate doubts. Today, in light of con- comparison with 2020 (the first Geographical Mentions should produc- wine tourism all over our region, crete results, I am convinced 10 months of 2020 record a +4 be positioned at a slightly low- tion and creating the chance to propose that their use in the Barolo percent on the same period in er level. In this case, production consump- interesting and enjoyable alter- appellation doesn’t create any 2019) have practically turned per hectare shouldn’t exceed 75 tion can be natives, optimizing investments problem of fragmentation of the situation around. quintals per hectare. Lastly, the gratified, in promoting tourism and, in the wine’s identity.” The study developed by Corriere third level, the ‘simple’ Barolos, my opinion, obtaining results “The MeGAs have been an im- Vinicolo’s Wine Observatory in which could remain at the cur- that are much more certain and portant step in Barolo’s history,” 2019, placed the Barolo appella- rent production level of 80 quin- long-lasting.” Kerin O’Keefe underlined. “They tion among the best-perform- tals per hectare. In this way, we have lifted its image. Because in ing ones on a national level, could quickly remove from the large appellations, there are dif- with an excellent ratio between market several hundreds of ferent expressions due to soil, wine claiming DOCG status thousands of bottles of Baro- elevation and microclimate. and volume of bottled wine. In lo, contributing to an increase And for great wines, especially fact, the Barolo DOCG is one of in overall wine quality, an im- those made with a single vari- the 80 (out of 470) appellations provement in price level, not so ety, these different expressions that have a bottled/DOCG claim much reducing the vastness of Top left: CLAUDIO CONTERNO, capture the imagination and ratio over 80 percent. 84 percent the price range, but rather in- PRESIDENT of CIA in the interest of enthusiasts. I’m not in the case of Barolo. creasing the lower level.” CUNEO PROVINCE; saying the MeGAs are perfect: Bottom left: there are several and some of The Price Issue Bulk Wine Management STEFANO PESCI, DIRECTOR them are quite vast. But in the More than the price in itself, Obviously, the bulk wine mar- of TERRE DEL BAROLO. To the right: end, it will be the consumers or the price range observed for ket influences the price dy- PIETRO RATTI, COORDINATOR who decide which ones they Barolo, the weak element is the namics of Barolo, which has of the BAROLO BOARD at the like the most or the least. Per- split of the Barolo market into influenced the value of grapes CONSORTIUM special edition GLOBAL MARKETS by 21

AN INTERVIEW WITH VERONIKA CRECELIUS, ITALIAN CORRESPONDENT FOR WEINWIRTSCHAFT German Solidity Put To The Test By Covid-19

The market is holding up, he wine market in Germany and China which are becoming important mar- is not only very competitive," kets. In the last five years imports have fluctuat- even though the pandemic she said. “But also very stable. ed around 15 million hectolitres, though three of is changing consumer It may seem static and rath- these are re-exported. styles and methods. It will er“T flat, but I would say that’s reassuring in this period. Of the top four most important markets Germany is also a great producer country. leave scars, especially on for Italian wine exports, Germany is the one that Yes, the vineyard surface area in 2019 reached has held up the best during the first troubled 100,500 hectares and 25 percent is planted with distribution, but if they are half year of 2020.” , followed by Pinot Nero, Müller Thur- interpreted well, they could This is how Veronika Crecelius, Italian corre- gau, Pinot Grigio and . The market become an opportunity spondent for Weinwirtschaft, the leading mag- share for national wines has recently reached azine on the market, describes the 45 percent, Italy is in second place with 16 per- German wine situation. cent, France at 12 percent and Spain at 9 percent. As for purchase channels in 2019, according to Veronika, before entering into the current Deutsches Weininstistut’s statistics, 79 percent situation, please give us an overview of the of wine was sold through mass retail channels German market. (including discount stores) where the average For the last twenty years, average per capita con- price was 3.12 euros/litre (3.31 for German wines). sumption in Germany has fluctuated between 20 National wines bought directly from the winery and 21 litres of still wine, in addition to 3-4 litres or in wine shops reached an average price of 6.89 of sparkling and semi-sparkling wines, although euros/litre. It should be pointed out that the sta- consumption of bubblies is falling. According to tistics published are always much debated in the latest data from Deutsches Weininstitut, in the sector and especially criticised by research- 2019 average consumption was 3.3 litres, while ers from the University of Geisenheim, whose during 2014/2015 it was still 3.7. Overall, we are studies indicate higher average prices. There is talking about a market whose basic require- also a gap in almost all the statistics, which do ments are around 20 million hectolitres. Germa- not consider sales through the traditional chan- ny has produced 9 million for about the past ten nel in the absence of representative surveys. In years (two thirds are made up of white wines) any case, considering all the sales channels, it is and they export only one million, especially to estimated that the overall average price is 5 euro the USA, then northern Europe, as well as Japan per bottle.

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Destemming and crushing lines for both manual or Grape selection lines, with automatic or manual Pressing lines with continuous press system and mechanical harvest sorting technologies remote control intergation

www.enoveneta.it special edition GLOBAL MARKETS by 23

Reasons For Consumption During Covid-Induced Restrictions At Shenzen, The b2b Event 76 Promoted At Veronafiere I like the flavour 70 DEBUT FOR WINE TO ASIA 64 It goes well with food 70 WITH 200 EXHIBITORS 55 Two hundred exhibitors, eight represented countries, To console myself 63 twelve Masterclass courses and, not to be missed, Living Wine, the big exhibit area dedicated to natural wines, as 39 It helps me to relax well as buyers coming from the major cities of the Chinese 57 Greater Bay Area. This is Wine to Asia, the startup of 22 Veronafiere, making its debut at the Intercontinental Hotel To spend time with friends 31 of Shenzhen on November, 20 and 21. This exhibition enriches the twenty-year experience of 15 For more romanticism Veronafiere in China, starting with the “Fuori Salone- Side 27 Events” in Chengdu and the roadshow activity in first and 7 second-tier cities, which reached Shanghai and Xiamen in To take my mind off problems 23 2020. Co-organised by Veronafiere and Pacco Communications, 5 Because I’m bored Wine to Asia is a b2b event. Shenzhen is indeed where 30 20 percent of the Chinese wine importers are located, besides 5 the renowned big high-tech companies. The liveliness of To help me get to sleep 18 the city is capable of influencing the trends of a large part of continental China. 4 To discuss wine with friends 12 Unchanged or less 2 For health reasons 5 Increase in consumption

Geisenheim Survey, May 2020

Now we come to the current ue and volume of wine sales landed on e-commerce plat- fear that drives people to buy situation. What social increased by 7.8 percent com- forms that they had previously without contact. restriction measures due pared to September 2019. The considered unreliable partners to the pandemic have most growth peak came between for their image and their price Is there a clear divergence impacted on the German March and June with +14 per- policies. Among the e-com- between the choices of wine market? cent in volume and +16 percent merce channels that stand out, young and adult consumers, The closure of restaurants, bars, in value. In total, we are talking we have Superiore.de which in terms of ways and places etc. has changed the way peo- about +9.2 percent in volume has been around for 17 years to buy and consume wine, The above and the present scenario in the “country of the ple drink wine, but has not de- and +11.1 percent in value dur- and only focuses on Italian as well as wine types? If dragon” were the subjects of the webinar “Wine market creased the quantity, quite the ing the first nine months of premium wines, selling almost so, can you give us some in China: the new normalcy,” organised by Veronafiere- Vinitaly, in anticipation of the debut of the startup in China opposite. People drank more 2020, compared to the same pe- exclusively to private citizens. examples? and as an approaching stage to the wine2wine exhibition and probably even better qual- riod in 2019. It numbers 100,000 regular The divergence is very clear. digital edition scheduled online for November. ity, as Nielsen data for the first At Meininger’s Internation- customers (more than 1,500 in At Meininger’s International China is indeed in fifth place in the world ranking of wine half of 2020 confirm. The turn- al Wine Conference, held in catering) with an average price Wine Conference in October, consumption in volumes, behind the United States, France, over linked to mass retail chan- mid-October in Düsseldorf, per bottle equal to 16.45 euros. two surveys were presented Italy and Germany. Therefore, wine has a large room for nels has grown, more in value Professor Simone Loose of Gei- The dynamism of its sales is a on the new generations. The growth. than in volume. The only chan- senheim University present- benchmark for explaining the study by Prof. Gergely Szolnoki “The year 2020 represented a ‘reality check’ for the wine nel seeing a loss are discount ed a survey on consumption growth for e-commerce during of Geisenheim highlighted world,” Jim Boyce, founder of the portal “Grape Wall of stores, which have fallen by during lockdown. Of a panel of lockdown: January +25 percent, the differences between wine China” said. “Good news: the data of Chinese wine are 6.2 percent. Unfortunately, we consumers, considered those February +30 percent, March consumers with ages between overrated and thus there is a good market margin for imported wines. Bad news: a vertiginous upswing of beer don’t have representative data who drink wine at least once +50 percent, April +100 percent, 16 and 35 years of age and con- and Baijiu (Chinese liquor). The spread and culture of for wine shops. a month, 21 percent claimed May +90 percent, mid-June sumers over 35. Let’s look at wine are unfortunately clashing with a systemic problem they had drunk more white still +70 percent, compared to some examples. It turns out of disconnection from sales, losing track of the final Which channels have wine, 18 percent more beer and the same period in 2019. And that 57 percent of young peo- consumer. The wine system should learn from the beer suffered the most and 13 percent more than all of this, considering that the ple prefer and only and cocktail worlds how to connect consumers. To give which, on the other hand, before the pandemic. Among real lockdown in Germany was 25 percent red wine, 18 per- you an example, during the lockdown craft beer became have maintained their those who drink wine regu- shorter than in Italy and lasted cent rosés. The preferences of predominant in Beijing. There were beer producers that position or even grown? larly (once or more a week), 32 from March 21-22 to May 11-12, more mature consumers are organised travelling shops, moving to the major residential Specialised wholesalers sup- percent increased their average with differences of a few days more balanced. Among them, areas. Others encouraged the producers in Wuhan to help plying the HORECA channel consumption for the following from region to region (Länder). 44 percent both red and white them and others relied on merchandising. Beer also wins in the pairing with convivial food, wine only lowered prices.” have suffered a lot and con- reasons: to enjoy the aromas wine and only 12 percent rosés. According to Leon Liang, CEO and wine educator of Grapea tinue to do so. The same goes and flavours of the wine more Do you think it is a While 38 percent of young & Co., in order to grow in China, exhibitions, events and for producers geared mainly (70 percent), to pair wine better stable growth or, in your people prefer semi-dry wines festivals are necessary, as well as digital tools and media to catering. Out-of-home con- with food (70 percent), to con- opinion, will we go back to (31 percent dry), while only 20 for the creation and spread of information contents. sumption recovered slightly sole themselves (63 percent) physical purchasing and percent of adults lean towards “In order to sell, design, label and packaging are important,” during the summer months, and to relax (57 percent) (see therefore digital will lose wines with high residual sug- Mr. Liang said. “Another fundamental element is promotion but the situation for hotels has the diagram). the importance that it has ar. A lot changes between the to reach new targets, such as for example women aged remained very hard and many taken on, also in Germany, two groups also when it comes between 20-35 years, who like drinking at home. It is events were cancelled with dis- Was e-commerce during these months? to places for consumption. The important to speak with people and ask them how often astrous effects for the catering widespread, and how much, Physical purchasing, with the over 35s drink 60 percent of they drink wine. To those who drink once a year, we should propose wines that received awards or recognitions. To sector. With the new German in Germany before Covid? pleasure of discussing and wine at home and 16 percent those who drink at least once a week, we could ask what they lockdown in November, these Has it grown? How, and how tasting wine, will always be ir- during meals with friends or drink and evaluate their product knowledge. In any case, the figures recovered by catering/ much? replaceable, but I believe that family. The under 35s consume Chinese are curious, maybe continental Chinese people are bars will nosedive once again. In 2019, e-commerce covered a the growth of e-commerce is 40 percent in their own home a bit more conservative, but on the coast there is much more Let’s hope that the aid prom- share of 4 percent of the mar- destined to become stronger. and 30 percent at other people’s openness to novelties and to Italian wine. By winning over ised by the government doesn’t ket and was rising rapidly. Dur- Many people have bought wine houses. The subdivision in the the latter, in short we can reach even the first ones.” arrive too late. ing the darkest months, sales for the first time online and on-trade segment shows that For mass retail, these have been literally exploded. In three have realised that it is easy and 15 percent of young people’s months of constant growth, months, they took a leap that convenient. The essential and consumption takes place at which was also confirmed in they were expected to make devastating reason remains out-of-home events and 15 per- September although less ac- in three years. But this creat- the pandemic and its long- cent in catering/bars. The other What post-Covid scenario and/or wine shops. Everything centuated than in the months ed a lot of chaos. Wine shops time span, considering the group prefers restaurants (18 can the HORECA channel depends on how the pandem- from March to June. According tried to add online sales to the recent staggering increase in percent) and events only count expect? Will there be ic pans out and how, and how to IRI, in mass retail, including traditional off-line channel, infections and the consequent for 6 percent. The places where closures, shake-ups or even often, premises and territories discount stores (with a surface and producers accelerated the new measures put in place. If it the more adult groups buy are a focus on USA/UK-style will be locked down. In the area over 200 m2) both the val- creation of winery e-shops or is not the restrictions, it will be varied, probably because they restaurant chains? worst case, a further concen- understand more about wine There will be a deep crisis tration of distributors in the and have more money at their for those who haven’t man- sector seems more likely than disposal. Young people buy 47 aged to diversify and there a concentration of catering percent of their wine at dis- will certainly be closures and towards chains. Let’s hope it count stores and 40 percent in shake-ups, but it won’t come doesn’t happen, also because supermarkets. One nice thing to a focus on USA/UK-style res- it would penalise further the that emerged from the 16-35 taurant chains. The Germans diversity and flexibility of the age group is that more than don’t like them enough, they supply. I think it is appropriate half of them consider wine to only eat the odd hamburger to develop plans for different ABOUT VERONIKA CRECELIUS be an integral part of their cul- during the year, but they love post-Covid scenarios. And the Veronika Crecelius graduated at the Freie Universität Berlin, tural heritage. The percentage the multicultural scene and decision-makers of the catego- worked in Radio and TV and then for seven years as editor for beer only reached 38 per- their regional food. However, ry of distributors and import- of the magazine Der Feinschmecker in Hamburg. She began cent. It’s funny how for 53 per- the danger of a deep crisis for ers should get together to iden- specialising in wine at the end of the 1990s particularly cent of the younger age group, specialised suppliers exists, de- tify opportunities and create focusing on Italian wines. Since 2008, she has held the bubbles seem to be a suitable spite the fact they are trying to cooperation and collaboration position of Italian correspondent for Meininger Verlag’s drink for women and nobody expand their activity, among between specialised distribu- magazine Weinwirtschaft. She has received several awards labels sparkling wine as a enormous difficulties, in -or tors. It could be useful for tack- including the PrixLanson for best wine journalist in Germany. drink for men. der to reach the end customer ling the worst scenario. OVER 31.000 INTERNATIONAL VISITORS FROM ENOLOGICAL 90 COUNTRIES AND BOTTLING THE MOST EQUIPMENT IMPORTANT EXHIBITION 600 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITORS FROM SHOWCASE 25 COUNTRIES FOR TECHNOLOGY AND PRODUCTS FOR THE 70.000 WINE & BEVERAGE SQUARE METERS INDUSTRY OF EXHIBITING SPACE

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 Raw materials, chemicals and biologicals  Manufacturing equipment and process technologies  Fermentation and ageing containers LEADER IN WINE & BEVERAGE TECHNOLOGY  Filters and filtering plants  Inspectors, graders and monitoring equipment  Washing machines and products  Measuring equipment and products  Bottling and filling  Sealing machines ORGANIZED BY th 29 EDITION  Containers  Closures 16th-19th November 2021  Labelling and printing systems  Packaging and in-house transport Fiera Milano (Rho) - ITALY  Transversal equipment and products  Services

[email protected] / simei.it OVER 31.000 INTERNATIONAL VISITORS FROM ENOLOGICAL 90 COUNTRIES AND BOTTLING THE MOST EQUIPMENT IMPORTANT EXHIBITION 600 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITORS FROM SHOWCASE 25 COUNTRIES FOR TECHNOLOGY AND PRODUCTS FOR THE 70.000 WINE & BEVERAGE SQUARE METERS INDUSTRY OF EXHIBITING SPACE

THE EXHIBITION SECTORS PRESENT AT SIMEI

 Raw materials, chemicals and biologicals  Manufacturing equipment and process technologies  Fermentation and ageing containers LEADER IN WINE & BEVERAGE TECHNOLOGY  Filters and filtering plants  Inspectors, graders and monitoring equipment  Washing machines and products  Measuring equipment and products  Bottling and filling  Sealing machines ORGANIZED BY th 29 EDITION  Containers  Closures 16th-19th November 2021  Labelling and printing systems  Packaging and in-house transport Fiera Milano (Rho) - ITALY  Transversal equipment and products  Services [email protected] / simei.it special edition 26 by PRODUCTS

THE STATISTICS OF THE PHENOMENON IN ITALY AND IN THE WORLD, AS OUTLINED BY THE UNIONE ITALIANA VINI OBSERVATORY SPARKLING WINE + ROSÉ? OR A BRAND-NEW CATEGORY?

by CARLO FLAMINI

he sum of two from a well-defined base, with apex (Champagne) and a base across-the-board product all In 2021, the entry of Prosecco diversities? Or a two tried and tested products, (general sparkling wines and over the world and has opened Doc Rosé onto the scene in full brand-new cate- perhaps the only real phenom- Cava), but not a central group. up countries like India and Chi- gory? This is the ena in world consumption in It is a global phenomenon, na to wine consumption, rosé force, with 50 million bottles, question posed the last ten years: rosés and worth about 3 billion bottles and sparkling wines are still will mark a turning point for when looking at the scenario sparkling wines. today (8 percent of total world markedly western products. forT 2021, when Prosecco rosé wine), which has built up a this segment. Which is worth will really enter production The Base Ingredients: new set of consumers, expand- Medium-term Outlook and the characteristics of Ital- Rosé and Sparkling ing the public and attracting If we put the two categories to- 150 million bottles a year and ian and world-wide sparkling Thanks to a boom in wines mostly women and young peo- gether and imagine sparkling rosé production will take on a from Provence in the USA, ple to wine drinking. rosé wine as the simple addi- offers great opportunities, new dimension and new bal- rosé wines have finally freed There are meeting points for tion of “sparkling” and “rosé”, provided that there are no ance: with 50 million bottles themselves from the image of a both of these phenomena, we certainly have markets expected (10 percent of the “by-product” of red wine, with- which may cause potential that are already receptive and slip-ups at the start DOC total), Prosecco is set to out a specific identity, a second problems, however. Both sur- open to mass market products. become an absolute monopo- choice. They have become a vive on strong market con- Unlike sparkling white wines, list, with about 30 percent of a true “wine style”, creating the centration. For rosés, France, there is still an extreme po- market that will be producing category of “rosé wine consum- Germany, USA and UK make larization of consumption. On 160 million bottles, for a con- ers”. Today, world consumption up 2/3 of world consumption, the one hand, there are luxury sumption of 150 million piec- of rosé wine accounts for 2.8 while for sparkling wines USA, goods (pink Champagne, about es, i.e. 5 percent of total world billion bottles, just under 10 UK and Germany form 40 per- 30 million pieces, 10 percent of sparkling wine consumption percent of still wines, and it is cent of total world trade, with global AOP production) and on (figures 1 and 2). still growing (figure 3). Germany and USA also being the other, popular premium Therefore, from 2021 the spar- On the other hand, since 2015 producers/consumers of a cer- wines mostly made up of Cava kling rosé wine sector will turn Prosecco has made the spar- tain level and Italy, France and (about 25 million bottles, also over a new leaf and write a new kling wine category more Spain monopolising exports. 10 percent of the total) and the history. It helps that it starts “democratic”, which had an Unlike red wine, which is an rest of world production, about

1. GLOBAL 2. SPARKLING WINES 150 SPARKLING ROSÉ GLOBAL CONSUMPTION 5% PRODUCTION - BY COLOUR: 2021 FORECAST: Others millions of bottles 160 millions of 27% Prosecco and % share bottles 31%

Others Italy 8% White sparkling 2,872 Sparkling rosé Cava Champagne 95% 14% 20%

3. ROSÉ STILL WINES AND SPARKLING WINES: GLOBAL CONSUMPTION (millions of bottles)

Rosé still wines Sparkling wines

3,100

2,900

2,700

2,500

2,300

2,100

1,900

1,700

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 PRODUCTS by 27

4. ITALIAN SPARKLING 5. BEFORE AND AFTER PROSECCO ROSÉ IN ITALY ROSÉ PRODUCTION - 2019: (millions of bottles) 49 milions bottles

Prosecco Rosé 15% Other sparkling wines 1% 2% 14 From Prosecco area 4%

Franciacorta Docg 31 Trento Doc 49 50 Venezia Doc 78%

Others 20

2019 2020 2021 by CARLO FLAMINI

60 million bottles. The Italian Supply bottles), Alta Langa (76,000) still rosé wine is drunk more If Prosecco rosé, with its 50 The supply of pre-Prosecco and Nebbiolo d’Alba (32,000) by men (60 percent), while oth- million bottles, positions itself Italian sparkling rosé wine (details in table 1). er rosé wines and Prosecco are above traditional Prosecco and was made up of about 50 mil- This year, if the Prosecco Con- consumed by a public mostly below Champagne, there will lion pieces (figure 4): 78 percent sortium’s forecast is confirmed, made up of women. be more alternatives for Ital- of these consisted of Sparkling 20 million bottles of rosé will By age group, another feature ian sparkling rosé wines, but rosé wines from the Veneto, enter the market, 4 percent of of Italian rosé is the predom- they must be valued according produced in the Prosecco area. the DOC, which will take the inance of the 35-54 age group to the type of sparkling wine These were the so-called “fore- Italian supply to 51 million. (about half), while Prosecco is produced. There will probably runners” of the new DOC cat- Then there will be a boom from across-the-board and general be room, a niche, for high-lev- egory, those that the Consorti- 2021 onwards, when Prosecco rosé tends towards older age el spar- um built future projections of Rosé reaches 50 million bottles, groups, as does Sekt. kling wines between Cham- the new wine type on. Then, regaining the 78 percent share As for income, the bulk of Ger- pagne and Prosecco rosé. Or remaining in the group of de- of the 2019 national supply, man Italian rosé wine con- else, it can follow the path of nominations, Franciacorta rosé which will soar to 65 million sumers fall into the 30 - 70,000 Prosecco Rosé, with the risk of (1.8 million bottles, 11 percent bottles (figure 5) in the mean- euro band (60 percent of the being absorbed by a product of the total DOCG), Trento (1.1 time. In the end, in 2021, non- total), while Prosecco is more that “marks” the consumer, million, also 11 percent), spar- Prosecco Italian bottles will democratic, with two thirds of tying him down almost exclu- kling rosé wines from the Ve- stand at 14 million, 8 percent of consumption concentrated be- sively. Or it can remain below, nezia DOC (680,000 pieces) and the world total. low 50,000 euros, like for Sekt. which means competing with the DOs and IGs coming under In the UK, of course, the lev- traditional Prosecco and all Lambrusco (640,000 bottles), The Targets: el of Prosecco’s popularity is the rest, but the risk of being and about 340,000 pieces of Germany, UK unrivalled: 80 percent of the rejected by the market is very DOC Sicilia and Terre Siciliane and USA population of wine consum- high, because it would mean IGT. The others were rare bot- What is ers know it, a share that drops entering a “completely nonde- tles and collectors’ pieces, like the out- to 20 percent for Italian rosé. script” category. Cruasé from Oltrepò (71,000 look? The Here, unlike Germany, frequent homoge- purchasers of both wine types neous mass of a are women, with a percentage strongly charac- point more of men for Italian terised and well- rosé, while the age group for known product like this wine type seems to be the Prosecco, will induce the younger generations (42 per- consumer to tune into a cent), compared to both Prosec- product that is not just the al- co and Pinot Grigio, this latter gebraic sum of rosé and spar- being much more unbalanced TAB. 1 - SPARKLING WINES PRODUCTION IN ITALY WITH A PDO-PGI kling wine, but something else, in the older generations of the (bottles, 2019) a new category, just like rosé population. was, and then sparkling wine As for income, the differences PDO/PGI Region Bottles after it. It is necessary to avoid are not so deep, with Prosecco making the mistake of think- being a bit more across-the- Emilia Lambrusco Rosato Spumante IGT Emilia Romagna 312,024 ing that a traditional still rosé board of the social classes, Emilia Rosato Spumante IGT Emilia Romagna 6,993 wine consumer will become a while rosé finds almost half of Lambrusco di Sorbara Rosato spumante DOC Emilia Romagna 75,956 “sparkling rosé wine consum- its consumers in the middle er”. The new product category classes. Lambrusco Grasparossa Castelvetro Rosato spumante DOC Emilia Romagna 34,119 – if it really is a new category Lastly, we come to the USA, Lambrusco rosato di Modena spumante DOC Emilia Romagna 204,700 – will probably attract consum- where Prosecco shows a pop- Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce Rosato spumante DOC Emilia Romagna 6,660 ers from both segments, but it ularity of around 40 percent, Rubicone Rosato Spumante IGT Emilia Romagna 59,756 will very probably create new compared to 21 percent for ones, too, thus expanding the Italian rosé. 24 percent already Alpi Retiche Spumante metodo classico Rosè IGT Lombardy 3,487 new consumer base. know Prosecco rosé, even be- Franciacorta Rosé DOCG Lombardy 1,756,304 Today, the database of a poten- fore really encountering it, Oltrepò Pavese Metodo Classico Pinot nero Rosé DOCG Lombardy 67,105 tial sparkling rosé wine con- such is the strong evocative Oltrepò Pavese Metodo Classico Pinot nero Rosé Vigna DOCG Lombardy 3,381 sumer to base our reasoning force of this product on the on, isn’t that sound, which is American consumer. Oltrepò Pavese Metodo Classico Rosé DOCG Lombardy 567 why we can trust the iden- Prosecco and rosé are products Marche Rosato Spumante di Qualita IGT Marches 16,119 tikit of the rosé and sparkling for men and women alike, just Alta Langa Rosato DOCG Piedmont 67,963 wine consumer, in order to as for the different age groups, Alta Langa Rosato Riserva DOCG Piedmont 8,097 understand if there are more though maybe a percentage agreements rather than diver- point higher for young peo- Nebbiolo d'Alba Spumante Rosè Metodo Classico DOC Piedmont 32,244 gences. ple for Italian rosé, especially Pinot Nero Spumante Rosato Doc Piedmont 15,952 Let’s start with the German if compared to Pinot Grigio Piemonte Rosato Spumante DOC Piedmont 47,752 market: Wine Intelli- which, like in UK, has a strong Castel del Monte Rosato Spumante DOC Apulia 13,541 gence has observed core of more mature consum- a very high level of ers, i.e. the Baby Boomers. Sicilia DOC Sicily 31,102 knowledge of Ital- As for income, here there is a Terre Siciliane IGT Sicily 314,326 ian sparkling wine, slight difference between Pro- Trento DOC Trentino 1,100,000 especially Prosecco, over 54 secco and Italian rosés in the Venezia Rosato spumante DOC Veneto 678,664 percent of wine consumers, lower band, with 36 percent of while about a quarter know American consumers devoted Vigneti della Serenissima Rosé DOC Veneto 4,053 Italian , with a peak of 30 per- to still rosé compared to 30 per- This list is not to be intended as the total Italian production cent for Bardolino Chiaretto. cent for Prosecco and 28 per- Source: Valoritalia, Consorzio TrentoDoc, IRVO Segmenting by gender, Italian cent for Pinot Grigio. special edition 28 by PRODUCTS

Germany United Kingdom USA

WINE KNOWLEDGE: % OF TOTAL CONSUMERS

64% 63% 78% 54% 51% 67% 66% 48% 46% 46% 44% 43% 39% 37% 35% 47% 47% 45% 32% 30% 30% 40% 29% 25% 24% 23% 22% 21% 22% 20% 17%

Asti Asti Sicilia Sicilia Sicilia Chianti Barolo Chianti Chianti Trentino Toscana Toscana Prosecco Piemonte Prosecco Piemonte Prosecco Piemonte Lambrusco Valpolicella Italian rosé Lambrusco Italian roséValpolicella LambruscoItalian rosé Chianti Classico Chianti Classico Chianti Classico Prosecco Rosé Bardolino Chiaretto

CONSUMERS BY GENDER

Men Women Men Women Men Women

41% 50% 51% 51% 56% 54% 59% 58% 56% 66% 62% 61%

59% 50% 49% 49% 44% 46% 41% 42% 44% 34% 38% 39%

Prosecco Italian rosé Other rosé wines Sekt Prosecco Italian rosé Other rosé wines Pinot grigio Prosecco Italian rosé Other rosé wines Pinot grigio

CONSUMERS BY AGE

18-34 35-54 55+ 18-34 35-54 55+ 21-34 35-54 55+

33% 28% 32% 33% 32% 30% 35% 34% 41% 46% 45% 41%

28% 30% 34% 29% 35% 38% 35% 47% 36% 33% 36% 38%

42% 37% 38% 36% 33% 31% 31% 26% 20% 18% 17% 23%

Prosecco Italian rosé Other rosé wines Sekt Prosecco Italian rosé Other rosé wines Pinot grigio Prosecco Italian rosé Other rosé wines Pinot grigio

CONSUMERS BY INCOME

<30,000€ 30-50,000€ 50-75,000€ >75,000€ <30,000£ 30-59,000£ >60,000£ <50,000$ 50-99,000$ >100,000$

13% 19% 19% 16% 22% 28% 23% 30% 26% 28% 30% 32% 16% 28% 20% 20% 40% 46% 44% 42% 42% 40% 35% 33% 43% 40% 32% 31%

36% 31% 26% 30% 31% 27% 31% 29% 30% 30% 30% 28%

Prosecco Italian rosé Other rosé wines Sekt Prosecco Italian rosé Other rosé wines Pinot grigio Prosecco Italian rosé Other rosé wines Pinot grigio

An elaboration by the Unione Italiana Vini Observatory based on Wine Intelligence’s data by 29

VINEYARDS & CLIMATE CHANGE A new instalment of our investigation topic of the year, dedicated to climate change in the vineyard and cellar. In light of the effects of climate change, ROSÉ WINES AND MORE SUITABLE AGRONOMIC DECISIONS are key players for obtaining products with high and constant quality standards

AN INTERVIEW WITH MATTIA VEZZOLA, AND VICE PRESIDENT OF THE VALTÈNESI CONSORTIUM (LAKE GARDA) ROSÉ. WE NEED A DEDICATED TODAY MORE THAN EVER

by CLEMENTINA PALESE

o obtain quality still rosé wines, The keywords are it is essential to choose varieties suited to top winemaking terri- suitability, governing tories and then control ripening on very fine balances between leaf ripening, resilient surface area and fruit production, to guarantee vines, thanks to deeper adequateT acidity. To do this, we need to start with varieties that are resilient thanks to agronomic management practices that hinge on deeper root apparatus, root apparatus in a vital soil. and vital soil “To make a rosé with a very high and, above all, constant quality standard, it is essential to use dedicated viticulture, even more so in times of climate change,” Mattia Vezzola, Bellavista’s winemaker, strongly underlines. He is passionate about the rosé he produces in his Costaripa winery in Moniga, in Valtènesi (he is also vice president of the consortium). “We need to work the vineyard to make grapes destined for a sparkling wine, like a traditional where, but with different results!” ratus that is more developed by 30 percent than ing density and spacing of 5-5,500 vines per hec- method,” he said. “That is, we must adjust pro- Therefore, Lake Garda is a kind of oasis where one that is weeded or grassed over. In simple tare, we need to stay about 10-15 percent below duction to a suitable level, with plants that ge- climate change is “softened” by the mitigating terms, this means it has 30 percent more capacity the limits imposed by the production regula- netically present slightly larger berries, with a effect of the water covering a surface area of 370 to resist water stress. How come a vine in upper tions. For example, 85-90 quintals/hectare out of reduced skin/pulp ratio that enables us to ex- square km, which has a minimum water tem- in Spain can live for 90 years without irri- 100. This translates into richer pruning, leaving tract as little colour as possible. In other words, perature of 7 degrees centigrade, with temper- gation? Firstly, there’s genetics, then there is the a couple more buds per vine. To avoid the effects to make a quality rosé, you have to start by ature inversions that determine morning and fact that for us Italians, the vine’s “adolescence” of climate change, the harvest tends to be done choosing a clone that has suitable characteris- evening breezes. only lasts for 3-4 years, then we consider it adult earlier, so as to avoid a different canopy man- tics and not make rosé wines with partial skin “However, the effects of global warming can and self-sufficient, seeing that it already produc- agement, with a perfect leaf apparatus and 4-5 contact with red wine grapes that ‘aren’t up to still be felt,” Mr. Vezzola pointed out. “And they es. In vine growing in the past, this stage lasted square metres of leaves per kilo of grapes. These scratch’. It has taken 100 years of genetic selec- are tackled with vineyard management that 10 years! To educate the vine to manage its own are very fine balances: to put ripening back even tion to obtain small berries and maximise the puts plants in the optimum conditions to de- self-defence, we mustn’t get it to produce for the by just one week and to obtain more freshness, skin/pulp ratio to make great reds. And yet, to fend themselves against extreme events caused first three years, then 40 percent in the 4th year we need to reduce the leaf apparatus a little and give an example, Chardonnays in Burgundy are by climate change. And this is where genetics and 70 percent in the 6th year. Every territory has slightly increase production. I’m talking about genetically different from those in Champagne.” comes in again, or rather epigenetics linked to its own theories and experiences, but the rule is half a kilo per vine: for example, if a bunch of adapting DNA to the environment. Our grandfa- not to push production until the vine is suitably weighs 120-130 grams, this means Suitable Soils And Climates thers took the best buds from plants that their structured. Much attention needs to be paid to that every vine must produce 2-3 more bunches. It needs to be pointed out that genetics must be fathers, in turn, had chosen from the best buds. the soil to make it vital again and make sure use The leaf surface area needs to be reduced har- suitable for the winemaking aim of the grapes Therefore, in 100-150 years you can select indi- of nitrogen fertilizers is never excessive, and or- moniously, not just by removing leaves in the and the territory must be suitable for the specif- viduals that are perfectly adapted to a specific ganic. After 30 years of exclusively using mineral bunch area, but evenly over the whole canopy ic wine type. These are basic conditions for qual- environment.” fertilizers, life forms present in the soil decrease to reduce photosynthesis and shift the ripening ity viticulture, which are sometimes overlooked, from about a thousand to a few dozen. The soil curve, i.e. the balance between sugars and ac- but cannot be disregarded in the face of current Vineyard Management needs to be reactivated and left to rest between ids. This is true for every variety and changes all climatic change. To Avoid Plant Stress vineyard pull-outs and replanting; I don’t mean wines. Then, of course, it’s necessary to bear the “Rosés, like all wines, need suitable soils and Adapting plants to the environment is another four, but at least two winters, taking care of the microclimatic conditions in mind. For example, climate, like those in Provence and Lake Garda, aspect of suitability, however the biological pro- soil in the meantime. And this increases costs, in a windy area, like near the sea, the grapes dry which are similar,” Mr. Vezzola continued. “In cesses – like the adaptation of plants to the soil too. Therefore, agronomic management must be out more, leading to an increase in sugar con- fact, vine growing on the side of Lake and climate – take longer than the rapid climate intelligent and sustainable in order to prolong centration that doesn’t go hand in hand with Garda was created by Pompeo Molmenti in 1896. change that we are currently witnessing. the life of the vineyard. How come those planted phenolic ripening.” He called two French winemakers who, once “This is why it is essential to adopt vineyard by our grandfathers live for 80 years while those Climate change has already determined a half they had verified the soil structure and micro- management that avoids plant stress as much as we plant only last 30? We have been using bio- degree increase in alcohol content. Therefore, climate, agreed on the planting of vineyards for possible,” the winemaker said. “This is only pos- dynamic management for about eight years: the wines are warmer, rounder and more pleasant. making rosé wines. On the other hand, Lake Gar- sible if the vine has a root apparatus that reaches positive effects on the soil can be clearly seen “In any case, the grapes should be picked when da, with olive and lemon growing and plants like deep down, giving the plant autonomy in search- from the supply of humus, as well as on the vine- ripe,” Mr. Vezzola said. “Rosés need neither con- agave, bougainvillea and palm trees, is the most ing for water and nutrients. To achieve this re- yard’s ecosystem and the vines’ resilience to var- centration nor diluting, they are well-orches- northerly place in the world with a Mediterrane- sult, the land has to be worked, which means an ious adversities.” trated, elegant and polished and play on balance. an climate. I want to underline that suitability increase in the hours of work per hectare. Then, In the cellar, half a degree more doesn’t upset the is not a fantasy. It means that in a suitable ter- to produce constant quality, we need to select Avoid Phase Shifts Between Ripenings wine’s characteristics. For still rosé wines, qual- ritory the crop turns out well in nine years out the shoots, which needs 110 hours per hectare. The effects of global warming are particularly ity and, above all, the constancy of the winery’s of 10, whether it is tomatoes, radicchio, cherries, So, we go from 130-150 to 400 hours of work per felt in the phase shift between technological style, can be obtained through blending. There- peaches or vines. This is why they make Barolo hectare, which increases labour costs. Moreover, and phenolic ripening. fore, fermenting grapes from the different vine- in Barolo, Barbaresco in Barbaresco and Brunel- it requires expertise, not just time. After 15 years, “In the case of rosé wines, to contrast this range,” yards separately and then assembling wines to lo in Montalcino. You can make anything any- a mechanically-worked vineyard has a root appa- Mattia Vezzola explained. “With the same plant- recreate the winery’s style through the cuvée.” ver 40 years of passion The Vineyard Specialists

Orizzonti s.r.l. | Via Rodolfo Morandi 5 - 40026 - Imola (BO) - ITALY | Ph. +39 0542 643982 | email. [email protected] www.orizzontimacchineagricole.it special edition GONE GREEN by 31

ITALY: THE ONGOING EVOLUTION OF THE ORGANIC VINEYARDS GEOGRAPHY

THE 2019 BALANCE Others 11% The figure has now been consolidated. In the Piedmont 4% Sicily 27% past three years, southern regions have come Lombardy 4% to a halt, while northern ones are growing, Abruzzo 4% especially Veneto, Emilia Romagna and Calabria 4%

Piedmont. Today, a quarter of the vineyards Emilia-Romagna 4% are in the north, while five years ago the figure Marches 5% was 14 percent. In 2019, surface areas stood at Apulia 15% 2. Organic 107,000 hectares, 16 percent of the national total Veneto 7% wine grape Tuscany 14% by CARLO FLAMINI surfaces: % share by regions on total (2019) 1. grape Under conversion Converted Total 107 101 103 104 surfaces in Italy (thousand hectares) 82 71 67 56 65 69 73 82 51 51 44 43 53 37 38 37 40 46 31 32 31 34 43 36 22 29 33 27 20 26 29 16 20 21 22 27 37 34 25 29 31 25 22 17 21 18 20 23 16 11 10 11 12 10 11 16

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

rganic vine- in our country rose to 107,000 the national figure (figure 2). lel growth of regional the five-year peri- tre was at a standstill and the yards are on hectares, 3000 more than in Umbria (+21 percent), Friuli vineyards in recent od 2010-2014, with south halved its growth from 8 the rise, but 2018, with an impact on total Venezia Giulia (+18 percent), years, therefore just the northeast percent to 4 percent. the pace has national vineyards of 16 per- Emilia Romagna and Piedmont the increases in overperforming be- Even more significant is the changed as well cent (figure 1). Certified vine- (+15 percent) are also on the up, organic vineyards cause it came from figure from the last four years, as the geography: less in the yards have increased by about while the top three are falling are truly vast. a smaller base (just which have dictated the real Osouth, more in the north seems 9,000 hectares to 82,000, while or at a standstill: Sicily -2 per- under 2,000 hec- turning point (figure 6). The to be the latest trend, inferred conversions have slowed down cent, Tuscany -1 percent and Long-term tares), the evolu- northwest and northeast are from both the number of con- for the third year running, to Apulia (figure 3). Trends tion changed during currently on the up, with the versions and, above all, from the 25,100 hectares. As for the effect of organic on If data from the last the next five-year period last two years in front-wheel vineyards that have obtained Most of the organic vineyards regional vineyards (figure 4), year appears to highlight (figure 5). The northeast, drive, especially for Veneto, organic status. Veneto, Friuli are concentrated in Sicily (27 if the national average is 16 the changing pace of or- driven by Veneto, brought Emilia Romagna and Friuli, Venezia Giulia, Emilia Romagna percent), followed by Puglia (15 percent, we find seven regions ganic, the one from the growth to 19 percent, more with increase peaks of over 20 and Piedmont are the candi- percent) and Tuscany (14 per- above this, with the highest medium-term adds some- than doubling the Italian percent per year between 2018 dates for becoming the regions cent), while Veneto bursts into being Calabria at 37 percent, thing more. Their geogra- average of 7 percent, the and 2019. driving Italian Organic 2.0. the rankings with the largest while Veneto is well below the phy is changing, too (table northwest confirmed the The figures for the central re- Let’s take a look at the figures. annual growth (30 percent), average at 8 percent. This factor 1). If growth was stable at double-figure trend (+14 gions are completely different, In 2019, organic surface areas reaching a quota of 7 percent of can be explained by the paral- around +8 percent during percent), while the cen- falling from +12 percent in 2016

3. Organic wine grape surfaces by Regions: % change 2019/18

Calabria -10% Calabria 37.2 VdA -9% Marches 33.8 Basilicata -3% Sicily 30.9 Sicily -2% Tuscany 24.4 Tuscany -1% Apulia 19.0 Apulia 0% Basilicata 18.5 TST 2% Lombardy 16.6 Lazio 2% Abruzzo 13.713.7 Lombardy 2% Lazio 12.512.5 Marches 4% TST 10.710.7 Sardinia 5% ER 10.010.0 Abruzzo 5% Molise 9.6 Campania 6% Campania 9.1 Molise 12% Umbria 8.7 4. Piedmont 14% Piedmont 8.5 Organic wine grape ER 15% Veneto 8.2 surfaces: % share Liguria 15% Sardinia 6.1 on regional FVG 18% FVG 5.7 vineyards Umbria 21% VdA VdA 4.6 (2019) Veneto 30% Liguria 3.4 Italy 3% ItalyItaly 16.4 ®

Inside every great bottle there is always great technology

enomeccanicabosio.it [email protected] +39 0173 290922 special edition GONE GREEN by 33

to a meagre +1 percent in 2019, Table 1. Organic wine grape surfaces* in Italy by regions (hectares) dictated by a regression of vine- 2019/18 Cagr Cagr yards in Tuscany, which have Region 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 % change 2010/14 2015/19 been at a standstill for the past two years now, on the threshold Liguria 46 44 40 37 33 29 36 41 47 54 15% -8% 17% of 15,000 hectares, compensat- Valle d'Aosta 4 13 15 19 22 22 22 28 23 21 -9% 53% -1% ed by growth in Umbria and Lombardy 936 1,114 945 1,197 1,947 2,664 3,214 3,680 3,957 4,055 2% 20% 11% Marche. The southern area and Piedmont 900 947 1,042 1,254 1,681 1,998 2,845 3,331 3,469 3,945 14% 17% 19% islands, on the other hand, have Friuli V.G. 376 390 495 709 571 707 1,033 1,127 1,352 1,600 18% 11% 23% been in the negative for three Veneto 1,834 2,075 2,363 2,405 2,718 4,003 4,493 4,728 6,124 7,990 30% 10% 19% years, with a strong decrease in Sicily and stagnation in Apulia, Emilia-Romagna 2,192 2,292 2,446 2,574 2,580 2,460 2,963 3,704 4,497 5,158 15% 4% 20% along the lines of 17,000 hec- Trentino-S.T. 452 465 612 477 797 985 1,058 1,362 1,647 1,675 2% 15% 14% tares, elements only partly com- Tuscany 5,999 5,036 5,887 8,748 9,243 11,556 12,832 13,477 15,059 14,857 -1% 11% 6% pensated by the recent develop- Lazio 1,936 1,832 1,800 1,519 1,643 1,673 2,008 2,453 2,239 2,293 2% -4% 8% ment of vineyards in Abruzzo Marches 3,287 3,303 3,278 3,787 3,752 4,120 4,863 5,325 5,682 5,885 4% 3% 9% (above 4,500 hectares). Umbria 631 2,864 3,569 740 772 796 673 915 900 1,085 21% 5% 8% Sicily 17,110 15,577 16,144 25,153 27,105 32,297 38,935 35,939 30,660 30,084 -2% 12% -2% The Changing Geography Due to these different trends, Apulia 8,365 8,004 10,173 10,604 10,269 10,866 15,990 16,327 17,024 16,952 0% 5% 12% the weights of the various areas Calabria 2,003 2,134 2,184 2,355 3,128 3,206 4,223 4,443 4,425 3,983 -10% 12% 6% are changing (figure 7). In 2010, Abruzzo 3,694 3,725 3,699 3,385 3,559 3,629 3,862 3,955 4,322 4,546 5% -1% 6% the northeast stood at 9 percent Campania 708 742 772 706 682 803 1,414 1,505 2,065 2,191 6% -1% 29% of the total, a quota that jumped Sardinia 746 1,261 970 1,269 996 964 1,558 1,611 1,538 1,608 5% 7% 14% to 15 percent in 2019, just as the Basilicata 727 662 609 708 561 539 1,064 993 959 930 -3% -6% 15% northwest went from 4 per- cent to 7 percent. This relieves Molise 327 330 304 291 303 326 459 440 457 511 12% -2% 12% the weight of the south, which Italy 52,273 52,812 57,347 67,937 72,362 83,643 103,545 105,384 106,446 109,423 3% 8% 7% went from holding about two * table grapes included thirds of the total until 2014, to 56 percent today, while the cen- 5. Organic vineyards growth by areas - Cagr % 6. Annual % change by areas tre remains stable with a share of around 22 percent. 2016 2017 2018 2019 Certainly the low performance 2010/14 2015/19 of southern regions in re- 30% cent years has been affected 28% 19% by administrative hiccoughs 18% 25% in regional development pro- 21% grammes, as we already report- 17% 14% 16% ed last year, commenting on 14% 2018 data (figures 8 to 11). This is 12% a sign that organic vinegrow- 8% 9% 8% ing can be done if it is within 8% 8% 8% 6% 7% 7% the context of public funding, 7% 1% which compensates the acces- 4% sory charges of this practice. -1% Whereas in the north, where or- -3% ganic is certainly more difficult -6% due to different weather condi- NW NE Center South Italy Nw NE Center South tions (added to this, the reduc- tion in the use of copper dic- tated by EU rules), the decision 7. Organic surfaces by areas 8. Organic surfaces by areas (thousand hectares) seems to be totally convinced, also driven by the decisions of NW NE Center South NW NE Center South (right axis) some consortia (see Prosecco DOC) to reward this production 30 80 by granting new entries into 70 the register or less incisive yield 25 reductions in certain vintages. 60 Therefore, a “reward” machine 56% 64% 64% 20 that goes beyond simple fund- 50 ing of regional development programmes, in addition to the 15 40 setting up of organic districts (, Padua, etc.) that add a 30 22% 10 sense of community linked by a production aim, seems to have 23% 21% 20 given the right impulse to vine- 5 15% 10 growers to make the organic 9% 9% 7% choice for life,” a factor that can 4% 5% 0 0 explain the growth registered 2010 2014 2019 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 in these areas in recent years.

9. Veneto and Emilia Romagna (thousand hectares) 10. Lombardy and Piedmont (thousand hectares) 11. Tuscany, Apulia and Sicily (thousand hectares)

Veneto Emilia-Romagna Lombardy Piedmont Sicily Apulia Tuscany

9 4.5 45 8 4.0 40 7 3.5 35 6 3.0 30 5 2.5 25 4 2.0 20 3 1.5 15 2 1.0 10 1 0.5 5 0 0.0 0

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 34 by NEW FRONTIERS

WINE CAN (ALSO) BE MADE IN WATER

b y FABIO CIARLA

Mostly in the sea, or a lake, underwater ageing has gone from being a simple experiment to an established practice with potential for development. Just a passing fad? Maybe not, although there are just over 30 experiences like this today. Europe plays a leading role and Italy ranks first among the various countries.

ention owned by Veuve Clicquot (one subtracts liquids from organ- seriously enough: the risk is wine and of the found in ic bodies through oxygen dis- that the whole branch of water sea and 2010), which set up “The cellar solved in the air, while in the ageing could burst like a bubble, the mind in the sea” – though there is no sea this doesn’t occur due to the involving everyone (including leaps to lack of still wines, grapes being low presence of oxygen. This those who do a good job) if there transport of the ancient Greeks immersed before fermentation reflection made me realise that should be health warnings for andM Romans, but in that case, and even ageing of tonneau the sea could be the perfect en- a product put on the market we can talk exclusively about barrels immersed in sea water vironment for preserving spar- with disregard. I prefer not to be the power of suggestion and ar- (). kling wine, the type I had de- associated with certain impro- chaeological research. However, cided to produce right from the vised and risky projects.” if we follow the course of history A Question of Osmosis start. More than twenty years Pierluigi Lugano has a clear up to about the mid-nineteenth A ground-breaking experiment have passed since that aware- vision but is also concerned century, we can date with rela- in Italy, and possibly the most ness until the current realisa- at times. After earning the ap- tive certainty the oldest bottles famous and widespread prod- tion, and I have studied in de- proval of much of the world of Champagne ever found at the uct of this type, is the Abissi tail all the solutions in order to press when tasting the first bottom of the sea and, moreo- sparkling wine from Pierluigi carry out my project in that en- bottles pulled out of the sea ten ver, they were drunk. It is the Lugano’s Bisson winery. An vironment. I mean corking, all years ago, he was given the sat- story of a fortuitous find and a incredible coincidence marked the ideal temperature variants, isfaction of being invited to the lucky one for wine enthusiasts. 2010 both as the year of the for- depth... It was a very in-depth international congress in Bil- In 2010, some local divers off the tuitous finding of the Baltic sea study until 10 years ago when, bao, at the end of 2019, to talk Åland Islands, between Sweden wines, as well as the re-emer- after a ten-year study period, I about his experience and add and Finland, were searching for gence of Bisson’s wines from managed to launch my project, to the debate on the topic. the wreck of a German ship that the bottom of the Ligurian Sea which was successful thanks had sunk in the area. Luck came (the first sparkling wine, the to the invaluable collaboration The Role of Oxygen knocking at the door of Chris- 2008 vintage, was immersed of winemaker Enzo Michelet To give the question a scientific tian Ekström and his friends, in May 2009 and “fished out” from Veneto.” slant, we spoke to the professor who found a boat at a depth of in 2010). For Lugano it was the In detail, the Abissi sparkling and world-famous expert, Atti- about 40 metres in the freezing practical application of a plan- wine is made by immersing lio Scienza, who highlights the waters. They couldn’t work out ning stage set up in the early bottles of sparkling wine in role of oxygen on the sensory whether it was the one they 2000s. His idea took shape from the sea, in the Baia del Silen- aspects of sea-aged wines, “val- had been talking about on the the combination of his being zio in Sestri Levante. The wine idating” in a certain sense the nearby islands, but they no- an expert in figurative art, a has already undergone bottle premises of Lugana’s research. ticed some bottles and decided history enthusiast, fermentation, so that tempera- “We had the first confirmation to bring some to the surface. and wine producer since 1978. ture changes due to immersion with Madeira and Port wines The ascent, or the desire to It’s a fweddiascinating story don’t block the process. The found in the hold of some Dutch try the content, made the first which brings together the par- Above, Pierluigi Lugano of Bisson bottles are placed in large met- and English galleons that sank cork pop and, to their great sur- able of the Wedding at Cana, Vini; bottom right, Attilio Scienza al cages designed by Lugano, in the sea,” Mr. Scienza ex- prise, there was a still drinkable the importance of wine for the with closures that, according Champagne inside instead of Romans, the first finding of In the opening photo above, the to his studies, best resist corro- immersion of Jamin Portofino salt water. They found out later wine amphorae in caves and wines; in the box, Bisson Vini’s sion: crown caps. that this sparkling wine had then (thanks to an underwater Abissi sparkling wine and, in the “I personally adopted a strategy been preserved for about 170- breathing apparatus invented circle, Roma DOC wines from the based on studies of every single 180 years and still had a lot to by Leonardo da Vinci) in the Monte Due Torri winery transported bottle,” Mr. Lugano said. “The say for itself, but how was this sea. While the former, those to the bottom of Lake Nemi aim was to propose a packet of possible? There are several com- discovered on the surface, had solutions to bodies that had to plex answers to this question, dried up over the centuries, authorise the project, covering it’s all about chemistry and those found in the sea or lakes every detail and able to dispel above all physics, with some had retained their content any doubts about the part in the details still unknown. Need- more or less intact. sea and afterwards, especial- less to say, thanks to this dis- “At the end of a long study, I ly from a health point of view, covery in the Baltic Sea, subse- understood that everything when we put bottles on the quent sea-ageing experiments takes place through osmosis,” dinner table encrusted with sea focussed on sparkling wines Pierluigi Lugano explained to deposits. It would appear today – including the LVMH group us. “On the earth, the process that some do not take this field special edition NEW FRONTIERS by 35

ph. Stefano Paganelli

Top left: Tenuta Casali wines; top centre: Vallecamonica's resting on the bottom of Lake Iseo; top right: Bringing Cantina del Garda’s Brezza Riva Riserva to the surface, which had been resting on the bottom of Lake Garda. Here-above a bottle of Tenuta del Paguro

THE PHENOMENON OF UNDERWATER WINES (BOTH IN THE SEA AND LAKES)

About 32 producers, 8 of which produce exclusively sparkling/semi-sparkling wines. The main countries (in order of importance): France, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Greece and South Africa

plained. “When tasting these on wine, that allows products “I can’t exclude that there is grapes. The conditions of the wines, we realised that, though immersed in the sea to be pre- an influence like remuage on sea, (darkness and constant two or three centuries had gone served better and for longer. In sparkling wines,” Mr. Scienza temperature, as well as the by, they still displayed a certain technical terms, it means that added. “But in the absence of continual movement of the sea freshness, not having suffered in the sea these bottles under- oxygen it is limited, given the causing remuage, moving the excessive oxidization. The same go a lower redox reaction, a po- low yeast activity. In any case, yeasts up and down) are unat- sensations were perceived in tential of oxidoreduction, than it is a territory to be discovered tainable in the cellar.” wines found in wrecks from those preserved on land. There- and investigated, also because The bottles are immersed with the first and second world wars, fore, immersion in the sea goes it arouses a lot of curiosity and, the traditional mushroom a phenomenon that can be ex- from being a simple mode of in today’s wine world, we need corks, held in place by a wire plained paradoxically by think- preservation to, in some cases, to know how to embellish qual- muzzle and covered with shel- ing of the highest summits of part of the development and ity by adding a story.” lac. emersed land. At high altitudes, winemaking process, like for “We have definitely noticed an the rarefied air lacks oxygen, some sparkling wines, where as Native Varieties increase in the finesse of the just like at 40 metres under the well as the role of oxygen, there From Liguria to Romagna, from perlage, as well as a different de- sea. It is precisely this absence is also a constant temperature.” the Tyrrhenian to the Adriatic, velopment on the nose thanks of large amounts of oxygen, an Another often-quoted aspect is we find two different expres- to the dispersed yeasts,” Ms. element that over the long term that of the continual movement sions of sea ageing linked by a Casali said. “All this, however, has always had negative effects caused by the tides and currents. common thread: native varie- while preserving the notes of ties. Tenuta Casali is situated freshness, sapidity and min- in Mercato Saraceno, not very erality typical of our territory. near the sea, but the idea of Another clear aspect is softness, sea ageing came from friends we have carried out analysis and clients from Dive Planet for malic acid to understand in Rimini. The Rimini diving whether malolactic fermen- A selection of the winery’s sea-aged wines; bottom: Silvia Casali, from the estate of the centre discovered the wreck tation had actually occurred, same name, together with her family of the Anni cargo ship, which however, we found not only had sank 25 miles off the coast, and it not occurred, but it wasn’t obtained a 20-year government even set off by storing the wines licence. Knowing the wines of in the cellar after re-emerging.” Tenuta Casali, the idea came It’s impossible to end this focus about to try ageing a few bot- on Tenuta Casali without ex- tles in the sea, a complicated plaining why the line of spar- process seeing that the bottom kling wines is called Villa Zap- of the sea in that area reaches pi and the origin of the name 53 metres in depth. “Ondina 33” for those aged in “Thanks to these trials,” Silvia the sea. In fact, the use of ‘ondine’ Casali explained. “We observed (meaning waves) has no connec- a considerable difference when tion to the sea, but the radio. simultaneously tasting bottles Ondina 33 was the shortwave aged for a year in the sea and radio built by Guglielmo Marco- those from the same batch kept ni and taken aboard the Airship in our cellar. Therefore in 2017, Italia during flights around the we thought it might be the case North Pole, captained by Um- to go further. We immersed berto Nobile, who didn’t want the first 230 bottles to be sold, this heavy device on board at thanks to which we had excel- the start. The radio, however, lent feedback. Given this suc- was fundamental in saving the cess, we decided on a specific lives of the occupants of the fa- project, dedicated exclusively mous “Red Tent”, including Fil- to sea-ageing a non-disgorged ippo Zappi, from Mercato Sara- traditional method sparkling ceno, who lived in the current wine made from off-the-skins house of Silvia Casali’s grand- fermentation of parents, Villa Zappi. special edition NEW FRONTIERS by 37

Top left: bottles of Tenuta del Paguro; centre: a moment in the immersion operations of their wines; bottom: Gianluca Grilli from Tenuta del Paguro PRICES, PACKAGING, MARKETING STRATEGIES

Sea-aged wines are expensive products, after all, the very high fixed costs of equipment and logistics have to be compensated. Furthermore, as is natural, the products arrive on the market with equally expensive packaging: steel boxes, cases, metal plates, plastic films, etc. The marketing strategies behind these products are obviously aimed at highlighting the importance of the sea element, which is always clearly visible on the bottles, too, by means of the encrustations left (quite well as a Merlot and a Cabernet this we contacted two great rightly) in full view. Prices vary a lot, however, starting Sauvignon, on sale since 2016. Italian producers who were from 28-35 euros for Nautilus from Vallecamonica (and “The strongest sensation that not interested however, so then rising for future products which will spend 70 months we have had with our wines we turned to Champagne. We in water) and about 40-50 euros for Bisson’s sparkling is an increased roundness,” immersed 3,000 bottles in the Mr. Grilli explained. “Which coastal area protected by Por- wines (more common and well-known), stretching to marks them out compared tofino, and presented the first about 80 euros for Tenuta Casali’s sparkling wine (dis- to other non-sea-aged wines. results at the end of 2018, seven tributed mainly on the coast of Romagna), reaching Even for the Albana, the most years after the studies began. frequent question we are asked The results were so interesting 100-140 with Tenuta del Pagura wines (initially sold is whether it has undergone that we became our own dis- more abroad) and lastly, the 225-360-420 euro band , ac- tributors on the market. Get- for the three wines sold by Jamin Portofino with 12, tually no, and that increase in ting back to the bottle, what is 18 and 24 months of ageing (the 30-month aged wine roundness is due precisely to clear after sea ageing is an in- the ageing. What is happen- creased integration of carbon will soon be available). The sales system is unusual, ing here is an acceleration in dioxide, a very fine perlage and too: through free dealers and ambassadors who can development, the wines in fact a strengthening and acceler- vary the price depending on availability, moreover the take on complexity, while in- ation of development. But it is 24-month wine is not sold to anyone who has not tried creasing longevity.” not just about evolution, the element that breaks with tra- the previous ones, and only one bottle of the Privilege Sea and Champagne dition is that, while I am mak- series is delivered per order, subject to availability. In the world of “undersea ing this journey in time, I can wines” there is another expe- also manage to stabilize and rience that is causing quite a perform the internal pressure stir: Jamin Portofino Srl, which and the finesse of the carbon combines the sea and Cham- dioxide, which diminishes over pagne, once again in Liguria, time outside of the water.” in Portofino. In addition, Ema- And how do you achieve this nuele Kottakhs, one of the result? founding members of Jamin, is “Thanks to a precise strategy a friend of Gianluca Grilli and, consisting of compensating like him, comes from a differ- energy masses, isobaric equiva- ent sector than agriculture. lence, ultraviolet and tempera- “I deal with creating groups, ture analysis for example,” Mr. Here Emanuele Kottakhs of Jamin making networks, and I have Kottakhs said. “Ours is a process Portofino and, further down, a bottle tried to do it in this case too,” based on the analysis of the wa- of the winery’s champagne And a Historic Approach Kottakhs told us (of Greek ori- ter column present in the area In addition to native grape va- gin, but very Italian). “My high- and not replicable in other are- rieties, Tenuta del Paguro and est aim was to set up a consor- as; on the bottom of the chosen Tenuta Casali have a historic tium, though I am aware that area of the sea there is no ultra- approach in common, as well safeguarding something that violet, there is a constant tem- as the love for their territory. isn’t an appellation is not fea- perature of 13-14 degrees, a low Gianluca Grilli, a physicist by sible. I started off with Gianlu- intensity current of 437 herz that trade, and Stefano Gardi, wine- ca (Tenuta del Paguro, Ed.) and cradles and moves the mass in- maker, set up an “artistic pro- now we have set up an interna- side the bottles and, above all, at ject” in 2009, which combined tional work group that swaps 52 metres of depth we found the farmers’ tales and the story of notes once a month and pools perfect equivalence of pressure a rig sinking off the Ravenna common data and experience. with the 5.7/7 bar normally pres- coast by a special friend, Toni- The differences are enormous, ent in a bottle of Champagne no Guerra. from grape varieties to ageing and in line with ours (about 6 “When he told me about a stages to territories, everyone bar). Being a Champagne to all sunk oil rig,” Gianluca Grilli has their own results. The an- effects and purposes, we can told us.“I thought that it was swer to the question of wheth- confirm that we are the first a perfect symbol for the union er the wine improves or not, is in history to use the caption of Ravenna’s past and pres- that not in every case does the ‘underwater’ on a Champagne ent history, to be told through wine improve, but in every case label. We immersed the bottles wine. When studying this, I the wine is certainly different, with the traditional cork closure realised the many similarities and that is the key for us. The and, to safeguard health, we ap- with the ‘salty’ wine of the aim is to manage to create a plied a shellac and rubber resin Ancient Romans (the wine manual/document that defines capsule, or rather a closure-filter had small amounts of seawa- what it means to make a wine that is part of our patent, which ter added to it, Ed.), and the in the sea or a lake, trying to ex- stops microorganisms getting possibility of experimenting a clude anyone who sees it as just inside but allows micro-oxygen- preservation method as well as a way to make souvenirs. Those ation, though there isn’t much a winemaking one. This helped who make wine in the sea can oxygen at that depth, which is a the wine to withstand the long be divided into two groups, as good thing. The problems how- journeys it had to face in the well as thousands of differenc- ever didn’t end there, when the Mediterranean, just as the rig, es, there are those who look at first bottles re-emerged, 1000 which eventually sank, should what happens outside the bot- exploded because the change in have moved around, too.” tle and those who look at what pressure was too sudden. Today It concerns the Paguro rig, happens inside, our aim is to the process is divided into three owned by Agip and used to focus on both aspects.” days, with decompression stag- search for underwater gas de- So, in your case, what bottle es similar to those of a diver.” posits, which sank to 35 me- are we talking about and what Jamin Portofino’s process is tres of depth on 29th September happens inside? full of interesting ideas and 1965, following an accident. “Jamin was set up by three seems to be arousing the inter- Over time it has become an self-financed founding mem- est of producers in other Ital- underwater oasis and Gril- bers as an innovative start-up,” ian winemaking areas, espe- li-Gardi’s still wines rest here Mr. Kottakhs said. “The idea cially Bolgheri, and abroad, like for a year. A Sangiovese and an was to work on traditional France, but with two different Albana, for the native grapes, as method sparkling wine, to do new products. MORE VALUE TO YOUR WINE!

ENOMET IMPIANTI S.R.L. VIA DEI LAGHI, 18/E - CALCINELLI 61036 COLLI AL METAURO (PU) - ITALY PH +39 0721.897527 / F +39 0721.876108 - WWW.ENOMET.IT / [email protected] special edition NEW FRONTIERS by 39

EXPERIENCES ABROAD

Sea-ageing is a niche sector that is developing along precise the sea. “The project began with a few basic points,” Mr. Cepero standards and is trying to combine different experiences. As was told us, who we reached with difficulty seeing that the harvest was done during the first international congress held in December in full swing. “First of all, the different wines to observe, young 2019 in Bilbao. This important event also highlighted the and firmly-structured, to study the effects on tannins, then some importance of the experiences on this subject, defining them as sweet ones for any saline sensations. Moreover, different closures a driving force for winemaking but also for the environment and (cork, synthetic and ) to understand the reaction of tourism, and encouraging a distinction between serious activities each one to the marine environment. A cage to place the wines and improvisations, by establishing precise rules. If Spain, Italy in, making sure it can withstand the currents and doesn’t leave a and France predictably lead the sea-ageing project rankings in mark on the seabed when removed, positioned on a seabed that is terms of numbers, other countries are working on very interesting easy to reach, where there is no risk of damaging the environment specific projects. In Greece, for obvious historic reasons, but also during removal. The chosen depth is 17.5 metres, where we have Croatia, where Marko Duševic has offered to sea-age wines of found stable temperature conditions, fluctuating between 11 and different origins. Lastly, in South Africa we find perhaps the most 21 degrees, with an average of 16.3, little oxygen, 4.0-3.6 ml/l extreme case, where they purify sea water and insert it into small dissolved in the area, and enough pressure, about 3 bar, so that wooden barrels. the closures remain under stress during the experiment. We “Our cellar is the planet,” Xavier Cepero, the Spanish winemaker studied the tides, too, which have an average force of 0.4 metres heading the small but important experiment off the Catalan coast, here, although there are underwater currents during the year, in Cala Joncols, summed up. In this tiny, remote bay in the Creus and the salinity of the Mediterranean is 38 percent (35 percent in National Park, which can be reached either along an 8-km dirt the Atlantic Ocean), while the established immersion time is 252 Spanish winemaker Xavier Cepero and two images of track or by sea, Cepero and the Gomez family have set up a project days. The experiment came about almost just for the fun of it, wine bottles that rested on based on a small vineyard of one hectare cultivated on crags mainly to search for new sensations. Today, 11 years after the first the bottom of the sea overlooking the sea, under biodynamic management and resuming sea-ageing, we are continuing along this path because we love the the cultivation of several native varieties. Ageing under water unpredictable behaviour of underwater wines, that new world of began in 2009, and was the consequence of their relationship with sensations that has given us so much pleasure over the years.”

Freshwater Ageing As we have said, sea ageing is not the only solution. Lakes, too, have aroused the curiosity of wine producers, who have set up ageing experiments in fresh On the left, the director of water, due to their proximity or the winery, Massimo Fia, historic connections. The first recovering the bottles. to do so was Alex Belinghieri; To the right, the winemaker he started off at his Agricola of Cantina Riva del Garda, Vallecamonica winery with Furio Battelini (at the centre). interesting raw materials for a traditional method sparkling wine (a vineyard with 60- and 100- year-old plants of different varieties and ancient clones), but without, on the other hand, a place to age the bottles. “I had read about the finding in the Baltic Sea and Bisson’s experiences in Liguria,” Mr. Be- linghieri told us. “Being near to that, under these conditions, same vintage. Then we went to absence of light and sound and reign of Caligula were found in Andrea Lake Iseo, I thought it might be the work of the yeasts is am- 36 months with the 2012 and the same type of action of pres- Lake Nemi, bearing witness to Briano the solution.” plified, so it becomes an inter- 2013 vintages, to see the differ- sure and low presence of oxy- the close relationship with the After a year studying the bot- esting technique especially for ences between different vintag- gen as the sea, as Furio Batte- centre of Roman culture and, tom of the lake, the 2010 vin- traditional method wines. The es, and the next wine to come lini, winemaker at the Riva del fittingly, it was a red Roma DOC tage went under water near yeast lysis is continual, it even out will have spent 48 months Garda winery, explained. produced by the Monte Due Tor- Montisola. lasts longer than the fermenta- in water, but one of Belingh- “At that depth there is less dif- ri winery to be immersed in the “It was an ambitious project, tion stage with positive effects ieri’s ideas includes a 10-year ference between the pressure waters of the lake. The peculiar- with unknown varieties and on effervescence that becomes Riserva. Without counting oth- inside the bottles (about 6 bar) ity in this case was not just the ageing to assess,” he said. “And more integrated and elegant. er projects, such as the one on and that of the lake (constant immersion, but also the charac- we started off with 1,550 bot- From a sensory point of view, the Piwi variety and another on at almost 5 bar), as well as an al- teristics of the lake, which is of tles placed in the water in June the classic notes of yeast, such the Adamadus sparkling wine, a most total absence of oxygen,” volcanic origin. Basically, at 18 with a crown cap after the as crusty bread, are not percep- traditional method made with Mr. Battelini said. “These are metres of depth the bottles are second fermentation. In addi- tible, but there is incredible Riesling grapes, aged in an Al- difficult conditions to create in total darkness, with a light tion to absolute darkness and cleanness and the taste is not pine lake (frozen over in winter). on the surface, which reduce current, at a temperature of 9 worth it, considering the de- a really constant temperature, influenced by the long-term Remaining in the north this the internal-external gaseous degrees in almost total absence cidedly high prices. This con- there is the added advantage resting on the solids.” year, there is the Lake Garda exchange, enabling a slower of oxygen. The experiment sideration has been made with of no loss of internal pressure, And let’s talk about the very experiment. Last June 1,216 maturation.” should have seen the bottles Andrea Briano, long-time thanks to the movement of the long time spans, the first im- bottles of what will become Moreover, Mr. Battelini contin- re-emerge in March 2020, but Master Taster of ONAV and water. We are also experiment- mersion of Nautilus sparkling Brezza Riva Riserva Blanc de ued, there is the role the cur- it has been an unfortunate year Champagne expert, who made ing with the idea of doing the wine lasted for 12 months, then Blancs, a Trento Doc made with rents play, which prevents de- and the wine continues to rest his idea clear to us. last part of fermentation in for the second one some of the Chardonnay grapes from the posits and yeast stratification at the bottom of the lake, plac- “Wine ageing must always be a water, which the temperature 5,000 bottles were fished out Riva del Garda winery, were forming during the autolysis idly waiting for better times to means and not an end,” Mr. Bri- of Lake Iseo enables us to do. from 40 metres of depth after immersed in the lake. Twelve stage. return to the surface. ano said. “The basic concept is What I have been able 12 months and the rest months of ageing at 38 metres Going further south, to Castelli In conclusion, we asked our- that for important ageing, you to understand in after 24 months, to of depth, exploiting a tem- Romani, we return to a con- selves if these wines gain in must start with an equally im- these 10 years see the differ- perature ranging from 9 to 13 nection with ancient history. quality and distinctiveness portant, well-finished, absolute of ageing is ence on the degrees throughout the year, Two ancient ships from the by ageing in the sea and if it’s quality product. In the case of sea ageing, in my experience this correct ratio has not been reached yet, there being a clear unbalance in favour of mar- keting compared to content. Let’s be clear, the potential for ageing exists, but at the mo- ment I still think it needs to be demonstrated. I believe more needs to be invested, after the experimental stage with huge fixed costs, on the quality of the wine put into the bottle.” “I hope,” Mr. Briano concluded. “That, in future, we can count on products that start with a wine of great substance to be able to assess in full the influ- ence of ageing under water.” Given the fame these wines Bottom left: Alex Belinghieri are achieving on the market uncorking a bottle of and the curiosity of many pro- Vallecamonica's wines; here divers recovering Adamadus sparkling ducers, it can be imagined that wine from the waters of an Alpine Mr. Briano’s invitation will not lake; in the circle: underwater go unheeded for long, we can operations in the lake Iseo therefore confirm without the shadow of a doubt that good wine can (also) be made with water. special edition NEW TRENDS by 41

LAGOON WINES There is an ancient vine-growing and winemaking tradition in the Venice territory and its islands, which has been rediscovered and relaunched with enthusiasm by OMAR BISON

ine and Venice, a centuries-old gardens and gardens and on the rediscovery of combination. It is a social and native varieties, as well as indicating a business cultural bond set to exceed the outlook. Nearly everyone would like to highlight huge commercial interests the link between Venice and the “terroir” on the exercised by Venice on this label as much as possible. product, between the shores of the Mediterrane- Wan and the Adriatic. The Republic of Saint Mark Venissa and Dorona was a pioneer of wine, setting up associations, In 2002, business man Gianluca Bisol trade regulations, transport, and bot- began to delve into the history and tradition tling, sales, distribution, serving and drinking of and identified some Dorona Stefano wine in the malvasie (high-level shops selling white grape varieties. Quaggio alcohol) and samarchi (lower-level taverns bear- “In particular, he studied Venetian wine pro- ing the San Marco winged lion). And the legacy duction in-depth,” Matteo Bisol, his son and is behind every street, every bridge, with names like “riva del vin” (wine riverbank), “ponte de la vecchia” (old Malvasia bridge), magazèni and bastioni (low-level taverns), etc. But as well as a glorious past, there is a city of art admired all over the world, which has relaunched its traditional food in the whole of the lagoon, including the islands. Particularly today, when mass tourism has come to a dramatic standstill due to the pandemic. And there is a young food RESEARCH CARRIED OUT service, eager to discover the traditions of na- BY THE CONSORZIO VINI VENEZIA tive Venice that wants to promote and illustrate them through menus and wine lists that include A recent study by the Universities of Padua fish, vegetables and wine from the lagoon. and Milan, the Consorzio Vini Venezia and the What wine from the lagoon? For years, some viticultural research centre in Conegliano (Tre- well-known producers have been creating wines viso) aimed at recovering, characterising, safe- classed mainly as “table wines” and they have guarding and developing Venetian viticultural done good business. And there is also a Consor- biodiversity, has enabled us to recover resam- pled viticultural material to create two new vine- tium, the Consorzio Vini Venezia, the holder of yards, one in Torcello (Baslini) and the other in the Venezia DOC, among others. It covers an area the vegetable garden of the church of the Dis- including the whole city and the lagoon, and has calced Carmelites. Two surveys were carried published magnificent texts since 2010 on the out in 2010 and 2012 to define the origin, identi- study of germplasm of small, old vineyards scat- ty and the extent of grapevine germplasm in the Venetian lagoon. Eleven areas were involved, tered among Venetian monasteries, vegetable A bottle of the Venissa vineyard manager of the Venissa restaurant and winery between the northern lagoon (Torcello, Vignole, on Mazzorbo, underlined. “And he learned that, being engraved in golden; at the center, their vineyards on the Sant’Erasmo), Venice and the southern lagoon though production was limited, most grapes were Venetian island of Mazzorbo; (Lido Alberoni, San Lazzaro degli Armeni and grown and vinified on the islands in the north- bottom left, Matteo Bisol Pellestrina). This research gave 26 molecular ern lagoon, outside the city centre which focused profiles, 23 of which correspond to varieties more on administration, business and artisan already identified (21 vinifera). They are activities. Wishing to illustrate and help preserve mainly white grape varieties: Albana, Dorona, this history and tradition, which grew hand-in- , , Malvasia Istriana, Moscato hand with a unique city inimitable elsewhere, Giallo, Tocai Friulano, Toscano, Treb- we began by observing the ‘Scarpa Volo’ winery biano Romagnolo, Trevigiano and Ver- mentino; the black grapes are , Mer- on the island of Mazzorbo, and gradually set up a lot and Raboso Veronese. current vineyard of 0.8 hectares of Dorona.” “This recovery carried out on vines found and The first selection of this grape is transformed recovered, which had been trained for almost into three thousand bottles of 0.5 litres of Venis- exclusively ornamental purposes, helped us sa, a wine that is generally orange and oxidized, understand the history and origin of what we al- complex and heavyweight, the result of long ready had at home,” Stefano Quaggio, di- on the skins (between twenty and rector of the Consortium, underlined. thirty days) and destined to age for at least four “I believe that today, there is a way years. And a second grape selection produces to do business on the Venetian Venusa Bianco, 3000 bottles of 0.75 litres, a more islands, but we must focus on quality and image rather convivial, easy-drinking wine, made from a cou- than quantity.” ple of days of maceration and two years of age- ing. There is also Venusa Rosso, a blend of red grapes, mainly Merlot, worked on a vineyard sur- face area of two and a half hectares on the Santa An experimental vineyard Caterina island. The problem of high water has on the Venetian island of found a twofold solution. Torcello special edition 42 by NEW TRENDS

WINERY DATA SHEETS

ORTO DI VENEZIA VENISSA Venusa Bianco Via de le Motte 1, 30141 Santa Caterina, 3 30142 - Mazzorbo Venezia Vineyard: Mazzorbo Island Sant’Erasmo Venezia Website: www.venissa.it/vino Ungrafted grapes: Dorona [email protected] - 348/8727500 [email protected] - 041/5272281 Vineyard surface areas: 0.8 hectares Website: ortodivenezia.com/wineita.html To buy: www.venissa.it/vino/richiesta- Harvest: by hand You can visit, with a guided tasting, vino-venissa-venusa/ - available online. Winemaking: 24 months in steel and buy in the cellar Wine type: still, dry Shop online: www.wineshop.it - www.etilika.it WINES: Colour: straw-yellow Venissa Aroma: floral, yellow-fleshed fruit, salty WINE: Vineyard: Mazzorbo Island Flavour: mineral, fruity, quite fresh Orto di Venezia Ungrafted grapes: Dorona Alcohol content: 12.5% Ungrafted grapes: Malvasia Istriana, Vineyard surface area: 0.8 hectares Serving temperature: 10°C Harvest: by hand Production: 3,000 bottles of 0.75 l Vineyard surface area: four hectares Maceration on the skins: 30 days with Pairing: fish and shellfish Harvest: by hand manual punching down Winemaking: in steel Winemaking: 48 months in steel Venusa Rosso Ageing: two years in bottle Ageing: 24 months in bottle Vineyard: Santa Cristina Island Wine type: still, dry Wine type: still, dry Grapes: Merlot (70%) and Cabernet Colour: straw-yellow Colour: golden-yellow with amber Sauvignon - old vineyards Aroma: intense, floral, herbs, mineral, highlights Vineyard surface area: 2.5 hectares iodine Aroma: intense, mineral, iodine, liquorice, Harvest: by hand Flavour: full, fresh, lingering tobacco, dried yellow-fleshed fruit Winemaking: 12 months in barriques Alcohol content: 13% Flavour: full-bodied, mineral, lingering, Wine type: still, dry Serving temperature: 10°C oxidized Colour: ruby-red with purplish highlights Production: 15,000 bottles of 0.75 l - 350 Alcohol content: 13.5% Aroma: red berries, notes of spice and magnums Serving temperature: 12°C tobacco Pairing: fish, seafood and vegetables Production: 3,500 bottles of 0.50 l Flavour: full-bodied, quite plush and warm grown in the lagoon area Pairing: grilled fish, seafood, white meat Alcohol content: 14% Serving temperature: 16°C Production: 3,000 bottles of 0.75 l Pairing: cheese, red meat, with elaborate sauces

Michel Thoulouze, owner of L’Orto di Venezia vineyard posing with a bottle; at the center, a bottle with a view from the island. photo ©Mattia Mionetto

“A wall surrounding the vineyard on Santa Cate- The Lagoon In The Glass more famous and established producers, such as rina,” Mr. Bisol pointed out. “And Dorona, a par- Renzo De Antonia, retired architect and teach- the Franciscans from San Francesco della Vigna ticularly hardy variety, even when submerged er, is the president of a cultural association (the oldest vineyard in Venice, managed today by in sea water. The ability to absorb very little so- called “Laguna nel bicchiere” (Lagoon in the glass). the Marzotto family who own Santa Margherita) dium is one of its characteristics and even with Founded in 2008, it deals with the recovery of or the Discalced Carmelites of the Santa Maria di the latest high water, we only had to replace very abandoned vineyards in the lagoon, entrusted Nazareth church in Cannareggio.” few plants, always ungrafted ones. We are talk- to them by private parties or public institutions. Another thing that fills them with pride is hav- ing about resilient vineyards.” They don’t privately own any vineyards and ing been the founder members of an association According to Mr. Bisol, neither of these vineyards make wine on the island of San Michele, in the called the Urban Vineyards Association, which can be extended, but there are areas of Venice and old sixteenth-century cellar of the Franciscan was created to promote vineyards in the city. the islands that could be turned into vineyards. monks. “The association was created from the “For now, they are only in Italy and France,” he “The Venetian islands have their own history teaching experience of the founder and presi- said. “The Italian ones include us, San Francesco and particular geological evolution with differ- dent Flavio Franceschet, who passed away three della Vigna with Santa Margherita, Leonardo’s ent structures and characteristics from soil to years ago, who I succeeded as vice president,” Mr. vineyard in Milan, the Queen’s vineyard in Tu- soil,” he said. “For us, some of the so-called ‘na- De Antonia said. “At a middle school where we rin, a vineyard in Siena and the Vigna del Gallo tive Venice’ areas could be potential vineyards, both taught, it began more as a game with the in the botanical garden in Palermo. In France, including the islands of Mazzorbo, Torcello, children to make wine by crushing the grapes the Clos Montmartre in Paris, the vineyard of Barriques, barrels and vineyards of the cultural Sant’Erasmo and Vignole. In any case, there is with their feet. The aim was to make the chil- the Popes in Avignon and the Clos de Canuz association "Laguna nel bicchiere" always limited space and complicated adminis- dren from Venice understand that there wasn’t vineyard in Lyon. Covid has stopped these activ- trative procedures. The important thing is that just sea and stones in the lagoon, but vegetable ities, but they will soon start up again and Berlin they are the result of sustainable agriculture.” gardens and countryside. In 2008 Flavio had and Amsterdam are set to join shortly, too. Our contacts with three monks still on the island of two aims are to make ourselves known in order The Vegetable Garden of Venice San Michele who told him that the order had de- to access European funding and then, consider- Sant’Erasmo has had a renowned vegetable cided to close the monastery and that the cellar ing that tourism linked to food products, espe- production for centuries and the local farmers and vineyard would be abandoned. At that point, cially wine, is on the rise, we would like to create have continued to produce vegetables as in the having seen to the legal side of things, Fabio ap- European itineraries that include visiting cities past, following tradition, and the purple arti- plied to the council to be granted the right to use and urban vineyards. That lagoon wines may choke (their most famous product) is a glowing the cellar and vineyard, and that’s what hap- find room on wine lists of restaurants that count example. pened and it’s still going on today.” has been demonstrated by two private business- “It is a wonderful place,” Michel Thoulouze, When the association was founded, vine-grow- men whose products go all over the world.” owner of the L’Orto di Venezia winery, under- ers and restaurant owners also took part and lined. “About fifteen years ago, it took us three their contribution helped to continually improve years to purchase the current property, with the quality of the wine. Later on, they took on the building in much need of renovation. But I the management of other vineyards than San was convinced that there were all the necessary Michele, where they grow very old vines and conditions to make a great wine on these soils, produce white wine by crushing mainly Dorona, which on old seventeenth-century maps were Malvasia Istriana and Glera grapes with their feet defined as ‘vineyards of the nobleman’.” or with a small destemmer. “We make rootlings The terroir, Mr. Thoulouze claimed, is the great by planting cuttings directly in the soil, just as resource of this island, “with its particular soils they are, ungrafted, and we replace those that are where I have built a drainage system and plant- missing; I’m referring to the damage caused by ed ungrafted vines.” high water in 2019. They are all very small vine- He produces a white wine from (mainly) Malva- yards which produce a barrel of three hundred sia Istriana grapes and a Vermentino, with good hectolitres of wine each in good years. We don’t length, strong minerality and notes of iodine and make monovarietal wines, but use a grape blend salt, grown on clayey-calcareous soil with marine with what we’ve got. We don’t treat the vines (shells etc.) and dolomitic deposits. The grape with anything other than very little copper and blend spends ten months in steel and two years propolis, we leave everything to the native yeasts in the bottle before release onto the market. during the winemaking stages and, at the end, “We like to work well in the vineyard without we don’t add sulphur dioxide. If the vintage goes forcing things or using treatments,” he said. “If badly, so be it. We don’t sell the wine we produce, the grapes are good, the wine will be good.” it is drunk by members or used at events to pro- The yield is 35 hectolitres for every four hectares, mote membership. It should be underlined that making for a number of bottles ranging between Venice is full of gardens, contrary to popular be- 12 and 15,000, depending on the vintage, plus lief, and there are many vineyards, also growing about three hundred magnums that are left for 5 table grapes. There are also several places that years in a punt (a typical Venetian boat), sunk in historically produce wine, for example the nuns a secret area of the lagoon. and monks on Giudecca, but then there are other

44 by ON SHOW IN THE VINEYARD AND IN THE CELLAR

A selection of machinery, equipment, services and products available on the market, curated by the manufacturers

CAMPAGNOLA Plug-in shears make pruning or 40 years Arol has been easier and easier the point of he Italian compa- referenceF in developing ny Campagnola, and manufacturing a reference point the widest range of inT the design and manu- capping machines for facture of pneumatic and natural, agglomerated electric solutions for prun- and synthetic corks, ing and harvesting, makes ROPP aluminium caps a new proposal to the and crown corks for modern operators: the in- wine, spirits, beer and novative cordless shears of edible oil. Quasar, in the Green Line, which are its “free standing” or suitable for non-intensive turret configuration, is use. Powered by a plug-in one of the Arol corkers battery, these shears allow particularly suitable you to prune without any for wine, sparkling cables, in full movement wine and also beer. It is freedom. Campagnola of- ideal both for small and large productions and is designed to ensure AROL fers a wide range of plug- maximum efficiency and productivity. According with your needs, in shears: Speedy, able to you can count on different applications: with mushroom corks The widest carry out small cuts at (F version) up to 27 heads, natural straight corks (R version) up to high speeds, ideal for hor- 30 heads, natural straight corks and mushroom caps (RF version) range of capping ticulture and viticulture; up to 27 heads. Corks distribution is by pick and place transfer disc. Stark M, performing clean Its compressing units are in hardened steel for contact materials machines for and precise cuts, suita- and are easy to extract, thanks to a “quick release” system. It has each speed ble for vineyard, orchards an automatic centralized electrical adjustment for plungers in and olive groves; Stark L, order to control the depth of cork’s insertion. It can count on a the most powerful, perfect dust extraction system which extends its components life time for citrus and olive groves and minimizes the presence of cork’s dust sucking directly both as well as for ornamen- from the pick and place and in the compressing units. It is fully tal plants. Easy handling, “washable” thanks to stainless steel components. Its lifting lightness, greater speed spindle cam and cam follower reside in an oil-bath, providing low and power are the specific features of the cifically designed to be connected to the maintenance and long life. It has a bottle-neck oxygen remover Campagnola plug-in shears. For the 2020- Stark M and Stark L models. Thanks to device, equipped with a washing circuit system that enclose all the 2021 pruning season, two new accesso- its extension from 1.50 to 2.30 m, it is fit vacuum parts in the capper and even the vacuum pump assembly, ries are proposed for these indispensable for branches which are difficult to reach. in order to ensure maximum cleanliness. Discover this and other tools of the Green Line: the cable, which This way they can be cut avoiding the Arol solutions for wine capping on www.arol.com. allows you to remove the battery plugged use of stairs. The range of made in Italy in the shear lower part and to put it into products in the Campagnola catalogue your pocket, ensuring the necessary pow- presents solutions for all needs relating er for an excellent performance. This to vineyards, orchards, citrus groves, or- or over forty years, Cima has been CIMA considerably reduces the weight of the namental and evergreen plants. The op- taking care of crops by building low- tool and further increases the use com- erators who choose Campagnola, choose volume pneumatic sprayers and Targeted plant treatment fort; the telescopic extension pole, spe- innovation, guarantee and quality. Fdusters for crop protection. One of the highlight of its product range is the 4 diffusers with Cima Sprayer each) works Multi-Vitis6: a 6 hands and 4 upper cannons sprayhead that enables DELLA TOFFOLA GROUP vineyard treatments simultaneously covering ith 8 productive 6 faces (or 3 rows) with one pass, i.e. the two that includes the multiplier/fan assembly units in Italy and full internal and external rows where the mounted on the tractor’s three points, with abroad, 10 foreign New line of three different smart Wsales offices, and distribution machine passes (by the hands), and the two the distribution sprayhead is applied directly pneumatic press models internal sides of the adjacent rows (by the to the fan assembly. The articulated joint and assistance guaranteed all guaranteed by the action of opposing flows: where the trailer assembly is attached, allows around the world, Della Toffola the lower hand of each side (with at the same the sprayer to turn with a short turning radius Group offers a point of reference and opposite flow to the over-row hand that is without ever having to disengage the PTO today for all the technologies adjustable in height and tilt. Two upper hands going in and out of the rows. Furthermore, used in the entire winemaking at two diffusers each are for spraying the with the appropriate adjustments, the wheels process, from grape receiv- upper part of the row. This way the coverage of the trailer track the tractor’s tires tracks. ing, pressing, filtration, is virtually perfect and complete. The new Usually the Link series can be equipped processing and over-row sprayhead can be applied to the Link with many different distribution sprayheads then bottling series of pneumatic sprayers, particularly suitable to different crops, all with an anti- and packaging. suitable for those who work in narrow and dripping system. The sprayheads are based A new line of short head land rows or limited spaces, while on the principle of the Venturi Tube, which three different being able to cover big extensions. The Link provides a more uniform spray atomization smart pneumat- series stands out for a machine structure and a complete foliage coverage. ic press models has recently been launched that amounts to an unprec- edented de- velopment in winemaking pressing technique. All these models come with a new, com- pletely redesigned User Expe- rience and advanced sensors that detect the type and quan- maintaining enviably easy use. tity of the product loaded. An Della Toffola Group offers the efficient Synchro-bloc system. Artificial Intelligence system latest technology solutions also Quality, service, and flexibility optimizes the pressing cycles for wine bottling and labelling. are the values of this constantly for a drastic reduction in pro- The filling systems for still and developing with over 60 years of cessing time or, depending on sparkling wines Linebloc Iso experience, 120 grape harvests, the model, continuously pro- Ep – Iso EP-RL and Linebloc and the design and construction cess product inflows and out- G-Evo, are able to integrate any of equipment for more than 250 flows. All presses ensure levels capping/wire hooding solution wineries around the world top of quality and efficiency never and also a labelling system its credit. Innovation continues. seen in the market before while to create a space-saving and Info: www.dellatoffola.it special edition ON SHOW by 45

ENOMET IMPIANTI Introduction to Our Company IN AND IN nomet Impianti Srl has been working in the THE VINEYARD THE CELLAR oenological sector since 1996, operating in planning and producing machinery for the Eoenological sector. Our firm is made of a team of 15 ENOMECCANICA BOSIO people with two oenologists and different qualified technicians. We operate in Italy and abroad, developing Crossflow membrane filters – green solution: less waste for projects of complete wine cellars and taking care both disposal, more respect for the environment of the architectural and the technological aspects.

We propose innovative fittings through different brevets and thanks to personnel that have matured an experience of 40 years in the sector. In particular, our activity focuses on the project and development of new technologies, on the design of machines and processing lines, on the manufacturing and marketing of oenological plants, such as Destemmer- crushers and selection lines, Membrane pneumatic presses, Must clarification machines, Vacuum rotary filters, Kieselguhr filters, Plate filters, Cross-flow filters, Reverse osmosis, Tartaric stabilization machines, Cooling units, Heat exchangers, Control boards to control the fermentation temperatures, Cooling plates, Classic and Charmat method machines, Machines for production of the beer, Nitrogen generators and plants,

Machines for the recovery of CO2, Automatic machine for Batonnage, Bottling plants –automatic and semi- automatic–, Pumps of several types, Stainless steel reservoirs, Barriques, barrels and relevant fittings, Plant engineering and stainless steel pipe fittings. nomeccanica Bosio Srl has been reduce the need for maintenance and after-sales operating in the winemaking field for service. The ceramic membranes we use have a more than 40 years, growing in parallel very low capacity for adsorbing most of the noble Ewith new applied technologies and the needs of components in wine. Furthermore, they have individual clients. Our goal is to create machines no difficulty withstanding temperatures of GAI MACCHINE IMBOTTIGLIATRICI which are conceptually simple, yet guarantee up to 100 ∞C and pressures of over 20 bar, and excellent performance, ease of use and a high guarantee an operating life which is more Cantine Cielo e Terra: “Gai astonished standard of reliability. Our crossflow filter has than five times longer than that of organic fibre. us with its simplicity” been specially designed for operating on wine, With our patented “Back-Pulse” products, a and in particular on very fine wines. Particular turbidity of 0.00 NTU can be obtained in a hanks to major investments in production and attention has been paid to the choice of single step starting from unfilterable values. technology, Gai Macchine Imbottigliatrici is able to components and how the machine interacts with Thanks to latest generation PLCs, our filters manufacture considerably high speed machines, in the product being treated. Our filter elements comply with Industry 4.0 parameters. Tmonobloc version. An example is the 15032RE-HP with 72 filling require no particular preliminary treatments, Info: www.enomeccanicabosio.it valves and 15,000 b/h nominal speed recently delivered to Cielo and – as requested by end users – considerably Tel. 0039 0173 290922 e Terra, a Venetian cooperative winery that involves over 1,000 members who cultivate 3,700 hectares of vineyards. “The new Gai monobloc astonished us for its simplicity – says Giampietro Povolo, Finance and Operation Manager of Cielo e Terra – we wanted to increase production capacity while obtaining full control over the quality of the bottling. However, large filling machines are often made through the connection of other standalone machinery. Gai instead concentrates rinsing, isobaric filling and capping in a single monobloc-frame”. Simplicity means less time spent on commissioning. A monobloc of this size took less than a week to be assembled in line, and five weeks after the delivery it was already in production. Being “simple” also means easy sanitization thanks to a circuits design drawn to have specific and effective cleaning flows: “With these machines we have no longer had problems of microbiological pollution and we don’t use steam for sterilization anymore – continues Povolo –. Less water, less detergents, less energy consumption, more respect for the environment”. Finally, simplicity means low maintenance and effective assistance, an aspect on which Gai put the utmost attention. “Sometimes the maintenance costs reach the cost of the machine itself – concludes Povolo –. However, we set a long-term maintenance contract with Gai which guarantees, combined with all the reliability of the monobloc, a more competitive TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), the total cost of noveneta was founded in the 1960s, ENOVENETA the machinery throughout its life”. and over the years has become a leading international company. Enoveneta, Technological EWithin an area of 40.000 sqm and with a team of more than 60 employees, Enoveneta Partner for Winemaking designs, produces and trades the most advanced technologies for the modern of Padua, Italy. This allows us to respond oenological process management. From promptly to the various requests and to conception to the selection of technologies, intervene in the customization of the a 360° consulting service: thanks to our products to best adapt them to the needs of highly specialized team, we can guide each each customer. A timely support service in customer through the research phase of every corner of the world, even during the the technological solution to suit their harvest. Flexibility and efficiency, these are production needs at best. This consultancy the principles that also define our technical relationship is fundamental for us and support and after-sales service. Thanks to creates a tight-knit collaboration with the our foreign branches and international customer that allows us to follow each network of agents and distributors, we can project closely. Reliable and complete respond quickly and effectively to every partners for the management of turnkey customer, wherever they are in the world. production unit projects: the complete Expertise, reliability and passion. This design, development and production makes Enoveneta the main technological process is managed from our premises partner for the oenological sector. in Piazzola sul Brenta, in the Province www.enoveneta.it 46 by ON SHOW

GUALA CLOSURES GROUP Guala Closures innovates for a better future ver the years, Guala Closures by adopting four defined design models: Group has undertaken a long- Design to Reduce – a principle based term strategy of excellence and on eco-design and on the eliminating Oinnovation, which has led to the definition anything that is not necessary; Design to of an ambitious Group Corporate Social Change – abandoning finite resources and Responsibility (CSR) strategy with specific adopting recycled materials or materials objectives that cover the following three produced from renewable sources; Design dimensions: social, environmental and to Fade – this approach entails making economic. Recently, the Group decided to the waste disappear by changing to accelerate its commitment by pursuing biodegradable polymers and by using a the challenging objective of using 35% of few easily removable components; and recycled materials by 2025, implementing Design to Revive – achieved by recovering increasingly environmentally friendly and recycling the materials used in the solutions and developing new ones at closures. The eco-design guidelines are its innovative R&D centre, extending its an important step for the Group in the existing range of sustainable closures. As development of sustainable packaging. As a result, the Group has recently developed a concrete result of this CSR commitment eco-design guidelines for its five R&D and strategy, the Group is developing GRUPPO nnovation is a very collaboration. Our solutions centres (Italy, Mexico, United Kingdom, a comprehensive range of sustainable diffused word when bring advantages because they Ukraine and Luxembourg). Guala Closures closures for wine, oil, spirits, and beverages, BERTOLASO talking about technology. respond to the actual, specific eco-design guidelines seek to facilitate all of which adopt at least one of the four ForI us at Bertolaso it has a needs of each individual the development of sustainable closures design models listed in the guidelines. What innovation very precise value, which goes partner. Our designers have beyond the simple quest for a dedicated method, which means to us novelty. To us innovation means starts with the relationship responsibility. At Bertolaso we with the customer and stays are well aware of the crucial active over time. Innovation importance of our machinery means results. Technological in our customers’ work. This is innovation is measured in why there cannot be technical its concrete advantages. The evolution if not for the most recent implementations benefit of systems reliability, have allowed our machinery which must be a productivity to achieve 48,000 bottles per guarantee. Innovation means hour. Innovation means vision. experience. Bertolaso is In an increasingly demanding dedicated to the needs of those market, the profound value who have been bottling for of being innovative for us 140 years. The activity of our lies right here: in reading Research and Development the evolution of a market, team is so incisive because by anticipating its horizons it is based on unparalleled and thus being able to orient expertise and specialist our partners. This is true competence. Innovation means innovation for us. IDEAL Ideal solutions for your vineyards

ince 1947 Ideal company has been producing sprayers of all kind and for protection of all types of crops, focusing on both product customization andS innovation. And despite the awkward moment worldwide, Ideal continued its commitment in improving its offer, to meet both laws and markets requirements. Models for vineyard protection are many and with different features. Among low volume sprayers the most technological and environment-friendly remains Drop Save, allowing an automatic work as well as a 50% recovery on average thanks to its special computer and anti-drift panels. Other solutions for vineyard are Ideal low volume sprayers with multi-row boom like Supra or Diva, permitting to spray up to 3 rows contemporarily on vineyards with a very low liquid supply per hectare, for focused treatment. Also, Bora model deserves to be mentioned: its special configuration with fan group hanging on tractor and tank trailed by a tracker drawbar make it the perfect machine to work on more rows of espalier vineyards on hilly grounds. In addition to low volume models, Ideal provides various sprayers with axial fans anyway, for those farms having smaller extensions or special grounds. Among all, we would remind Loire and Alsazia Top models, both with tower and reverse suction but differently configured to allow proper treatments according to vineyards features. These are only a few solutions among the wide range of products for vineyard MACA ENGINEERING protection offered by Ideal, which has been working for over 70 years to find the best care for your crops. Caps making equipment Please visit our website www.idealitalia.it for more information. or 30 years, we design and produce with 8 heads for knurling, perforating, only tailormade machines and rolling and beading aluminium closures; complete lines for manufacturing, a system for simultaneous centring of assemblingF and cutting aluminium and the knurling on all 8 heads; a continuous plastic caps: highly technological solutions motion rotary inserting machine with 16 able to satisfy any specific need of closures punches for inserting double faced EPE/ production with a special attention Saranex, and/or single faced Tinfoil liners. to materials’ optimization. We can count The particularity of the new model comes on a highly skilled in-house design team from the need of customers to reduce as who conducts feasibility studies on new much as possible, during the processing caps having also at disposal a test room of wine caps 30x60, the change format time where the customer can organize pre- from EPE/Saranex to Tinfoil liners and production sample runs and conduct vice versa. This rolling-lining machine is application trials. In view of constant equipped with two separate feeding systems: improvement, Maca has renewed its rolling- this allows to change the type of liner lining machine for aluminium screw caps to be inserted inside the cap in less than 5 for wine. The machine consists in a vertical minutes. Output: 30.000 pcs/hr maximum. continuous rotary motion rolling machine Discover our full line on macaengineering.com special edition ON SHOW by 47

METALUX Pvc-Free capsules... Now, Pvc-Free capsules: for all kinds of capsules! NORTAN Pvc-Free thermo-shrinking capsules now, for all kinds Pvc-Free polylaminate capsules New Syncrocap of capsules Pvc-Free champagne capsules Successful removal of any vinylic resins Capsule Distributor If you want Pvc-Free capsules, Metalux Capsule can satisfy your needs. Enter the new era of Pvc-Free capsules!

hanks to an innovative mechatronic and distribution group, where a new proprietary project (FEDS Technology), the new mechatronic technology (Patent Pending) called Syncrocap distributor can automatically F.E.D.S. Technology (Fully Electronic Distribution adaptT to the different capsules to be processed, System) has been implemented. This leads to a thus reducing the format change times up to reduction in setting and format change times by 80 percent and the imperfections due to human the operator of about 80% and to the complete intervention. Compared to standard capsule elimination of errors and problems that may distributors, the new Syncrocap represents a arise due to rough adjustments. Furthermore, significant step forward for the whole sector. thanks to a series of algorithms that encompass Each component has been completely rethought all Nortan experience, all mechanical devices and redesigned around the following objectives: have been eliminated and the concept of processing optimization, increase in reliability, “Electronic Cam” has been introduced, which ORIZZONTI reduction and simplification of maintenance allows to automatically adapt the timing and minimization of the format change times for parameters of the various components based Over 40 Years of Passion. operators. This new distribution system provides on the type of capsule in work. This new system perfect functioning, where mechanics and is absolutely future-oriented as it represents The Vineyard Specialists electronics are designed and merged to create a a further step forward in the era of industrial unique symbiosis: management, handling and digitalization and a real device that can be used rizzonti is an Italian designing and implementing setting are managed and controlled by servo in a working system with Industry 4.0 standards. company specialized always new solutions that the drives capable of self-regulation according to the For all news, videos and much more, please go to in the design and market requires. Precise and type of capsule to be processed. The main heart of our website www.nortan.it or visit our Facebook Oconstruction of agricultural defined production and testing the innovation is the fully electronic separation page facebook.com/nortansrl/ machines for vineyards cycles, specific technical and orchards. Over 40 years, training of the managers, it has acquired extensive continuous technological experience in viticulture and research, are some of the fruit production technology. ingredients that, within Its strength in these sectors efficient and current know- is ensured by the commercial, how, work together to keep the production, and distribution Orizzonti technologies in step organization and by the wide with the combined technology range of machinery working of the sector. Our machines for the soil, adapted to satisfy any soil cultivation and pruning type of task. The use of high- of the canopy of vineyards and quality raw materials makes orchards are always subjected Orizzonti Srl one of the leading to stringent efficiency checks Italian manufacturers in this in the field, our company sector. Orizzonti is the ideal annually participates in answer for everything related different field tests in many to the vineyard equipment Italian regions, to show to all and machinery, generally used winemakers the quality and in the care of rows and the robustness of our equipment. inter-row soil of vineyards and Check out more on our website orchards, with elasticity in www.orizzontimacchineagricole.it

he issue of organo- SUGHERIFICIO DI BUSSOLENGO leptic deviations is a fundamental yet trou- Deviations, Soluble Tblesome matter of discussion amongst us cork manufactur- and Invisible Foreign Matter ers, used to focusing solely on detecting TCA levels. The main source of wine deviations and wine contamination is the cork itself, causing a deviation of as high as 60-70 percent. Residues from various treat- modification of the product, cialized laboratory to create a ments, coadjutants used in the providing an opportunity for specific analysis to detect and production process, non – sta- alternative corking. “Sughe- confirm the exact molecule bilized lubricants used before rificio di Bussolengo” applies and determine the cause of packaging, the use of sulphu- its own new revolutionary deviation. Our Pre- Coating is ric dioxide (an allergen) dur- system, called Pre- Coating; a 100 percent free of charge and ing packaging to reduce oxi- 30 hour process applied before comes with our certificate of dizing residues before delivery, the last stage of packaging guarantee and quality. Sughe- are only some of the critical to assure NO contamination rificio di Bussolengo is focused aspects of the bottling process from the cork. We are proud- on enhancing your wine and that can lead to irreversible ly working alongside a spe- safeguarding the cork sector.