From the mystery of the Nebbiolo vineyards uprooted by Angelo Gaja to the proposals to amend the Consolidated Text on wine by Unione Italiana Vini, up to the scenes filmed in Slovenia of "Open to wonder" here is what happened in April 2023 with wine.
The wine news from Italy and the world for April 2023 selected by Sommelier Wine Box to always keep up.
Italy
REMOVED VINEYARDS
Last April Angelo Gaja uprooted a third of his iconic vineyard (Sorì San Lorenzo), the parcel from which the Bararesco of the same name is born, one of the symbolic wines of the cellar. The entrepreneur did not want to make any statement about the reasons.
On Wine Mag you can read the news together with some hypotheses.
Considered legendary confidentiality of the cellar, we point out an interview by Gaia Gaja given to Tom Hyland on Forbes .
ZERO/LOW ALCOHOL WINES
In Italy, wine stocks are up by 5.1% compared to 2022. Unione Italiana Vini suggests changing the rules on products without alcohol and below 8 degrees through a Government amendment to the Consolidated Text on wine.
On the Sun 24 hours .
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES
In the Villa dei Quintili (RM) a cellar from the 2nd century was discovered . AD The excavation is being conducted by Emlyn Dodd (British School at Rome), in collaboration with the Appia Antica Archaeological Park.
The peculiarity are the walls covered in red marble. Inside, two presses and a fountain were found from which the wine flowed in channels that carried it to the storage jars. It was probably not only a place to store wine but also a space for spectacularly entertaining guests.
OPEN TO SLOVENIA
The campaign promoted by the Ministry of Tourism "Open to wonder", conceived by Armando Testa, has notoriously caused discussion. The wine-related scenes were shot in a cellar in the Slovenian Karst: Cotar, as explained by Selvaggia Lucarelli .
PROSECCO
A study carried out for 5 years by Mark Davison of the Faculty of Law of Monash University in collaboration with Macquarie University has come to an end, which attempted to demonstrate how the term Prosecco is the name of the grape variety and should therefore be disconnected from that of the denomination. The goal is to counter the limits imposed by European Union regulations to limit the use of the term Prosecco.
The Italian press spoke about it, but above all the Australian one, in view of the interest of its producers.
Rest of the world
UNITED STATES
For the first time in more than a decade, Napa Valley may soon have its own new official subregion : the area is Crystal Springs, at the foot of Howell Mountain. The goal is to restore the uniqueness of a region that works under the banner of quality and does not want to be confused with the nearby St. Helena and Howell Mountain.
CANADA
In Canada, a 50% drop in production is expected due to the damage suffered by the vines in winter.
ARGENTINA
The National Institute of Viticulture of Argentina estimates a 21% drop in production in 2023 compared to last year. Some local producers have lost over 50% of their grapes. The causes are various: spring frosts, autumn colds, lack of rain during veraison, cold, the decrease in hectares of vineyards in some of the most productive regions (Criolla).
STAR AUCTIONS
A jeroboam (three-litre bottle) of Domaine de la Romanee Conti – the 1971 Pinot noir “La Tache” – bought by Mark Paulson for $250 in the late 1970s was auctioned in April by Bonhams and sold for $106,000 (with buyer's premium).
Read the full story here .
The result of the auction instead here .
INVESTIGATIONS
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has opened an investigation into whether Southern-Glazers, the largest distributor of wines and spirits in America, operating in 44 states, is operating anti-competitively.
Read about it in Politico , while Tom Wark reads here .
CRIMES
The person responsible for the biggest crime in the world of wine, Mark Anderson, has died , which resulted in an economic loss estimated at 250 million dollars.
The arson was started on October 12, 2005 in the "Vallejo" warehouse in California, which kept millions of bottles from neighboring farms and over 45 collectors: 4.5 million bottles burned.
READINGS
The Economist dedicated an entire Easter weekend edition to wine, with many interesting articles.
REMOVED VINEYARDS
Even Chile uproots its vines. According to recently released data from the National Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG) Chile's vineyard area decreased by more than 6,000 hectares from 2020 to 2021 - a drop of 4.5%.
Most of the losses occurred in the coastal wine regions of Casablanca and San Antonio, while inland: Colchagua, Cachapoal and Maipo.
The most lost grape, in black berried varieties, is Cabernet Sauvignon, down by 2,300 hectares (down by 5.7%).
The reasons? The growing urbanization, problems related to drought, the choice of more characterized and more potential terroirs but also the economic problems of the producers.
UKRAINE
In the more than 14 months since Russia invaded Ukraine, the country's once-thriving wine industry has suffered incalculable damage. Evan Rail makes an updated point on the situation, between losses and resistance.
FRANCE
French producers lit fires to save their vines following the mid-April frosts.
AMERICAN MARKET
Young Americans appear to be drinking less but spending more. A recent report by International Wine and Spirits Research (IWSR) found that while spirits sales have declined (-2% in 2022), there is renewed interest among the under 40s in the premium segment.
PERU
Researchers have identified six new wine grape varieties in the desert province of Caravelí, in the Arequipa region of southern Peru. The study was conducted by the Instituto de Biotecnología de la Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina (IBT-UNALM), in Peru, and by the Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIA) in Chile. The grapes are as follows: Jaen, Cantarilla, Ceniza (known locally as Mulata), Negra de Caravelí, Loca and Moscatel Negra Rubío.
LVM extension
LVMH's Drinks division posted the weakest sales performance in the first quarter. Of all the company's luxury branches, the beverage branch (with Moët Hennessy) has shown the least impressive results: sales have improved by only 3% in the first three months of this year compared to last.
THE NOSE OF THOSE WHO DRINK WINE
An interesting Portuguese study has been published, the first to have analyzed the nasal microbiomes present in those who regularly taste wine. Compared to people who do not consume wine regularly, differences have been highlighted (although to be confirmed on larger numbers). In particular, the importance of the nasal bacterial community in tasting emerged.
