What happened in the world of wine in July? This is what we will remember this month for from the point of view of wine news around the world, at a time when the results of climate change in the vineyard are being measured and there are important acquisitions of wineries in the Napa Valley. The seven things that happened in July 2022, you need to know.
Here are the 7 wine news from the world of July 2022, to know to always keep up.
1. ACQUISITIONS
The LVMH group (Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton) purchases an important Californian winery, Joseph Phelps Vineyards (founded in 1973), which joins the other 3 already owned by the same group in Napa Valley.
LVMH also owns Dom Perignon, Ruinart, Chateau d'Yquem, Chateau Cheval Blanc, Krug and Veuve Clicquot, Champagne's Moet & Chandon, Cognac's Hennessy.
You can read about it here , in English.
And again in the Napa Valley, Foley Family Wines purchased Silverado Vineyards, famously owned by the Walt Disney family because it was founded in 1981 by Lillian Disney, Walt Disney's wife, and her children Ron and Diane Miller.
The sale of Napa Valley companies raises various reflections on who is buying them and how the entire ecosystem changes if previously family-run wineries tend to be purchased by corporations in increasing numbers.
2. RAW MATERIALS
Problems with the supply of raw materials continue, which also impacts the world of wine.
Here in particular we discuss the problems of Chianti Classico in sourcing glass bottles.
3. PRESIDENT AIS
Sandro Camilli was elected to lead the AIS for the four-year period 2022-2026, Vice President is Marco Aldegheri.
You can read about it on the AIS Italia website .
4. DISCOVERIES
New discoveries about wine in Roman times.
A multidisciplinary research conducted by the University of Avignon started from three amphorae found in San Felice Circeo and revealed that to make wine the ancient Romans used local grapes (which we would define as autochthonous), while to preserve it they inserted it in amphorae waterproofed with pitch , a mixture made with pine resin.
It is certainly worth highlighting the multidisciplinary approach of the study, conducted by chemists, botanists, historians and archaeologists.
The scholars published the results in the journal Plos One .
The news was picked up by the Italian and international press.
5. OUTCOMES OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Climate change causes damage to vineyards, in Italy and abroad, above all due to heat, drought but also too intense rain in a very limited time.
A graph allows you to view the anomaly of the current year in terms of temperature and rainfall.
The economic consequences are being counted .
We read about the damage caused by rain in many places including here , here , here and here .
Even in Turkey the results can be seen in the early harvests but above all in the progressive planting of new varieties of vines, to accommodate the new conditions.
6. ARGUMENTS IN THE PROSECCO HOUSE
The presidents of the three Prosecco consortia (the DOC Prosecco, the DOCG Conegliano Valdobbiadene and the DOCG Asolo) were supposed to sign a new self-regulation code for the communication of the brand on 26 July. The most controversial point was the elimination of the word "superior" from the label of the two DOCGs and the prohibition on directly comparing the denominations to prevent the wines of the DOCGs from being presented as better than that of the DOC. This caused strong controversy from the DOCG producers, which caused the signature to fail.
Il Gazzettino writes about it and an excellent reconstruction is provided by Il Post .
7. MOURNING
On July 25th, Lucio Tasca d'Almerita , founder of the winery of the same name and one of the first people ever to have believed in the oenological potential of Sicily for quality wines, also passed away.
If I read a memory of it on Gambero Rosso .
