What will we remember October 2022 for in the world of wine? There is numerous wine news of the month, in Italy and around the world: from the forecasts for the 2022 vintage to the outcome of the Chinese tariffs, up to the ambitions of Prosecco. Here is all the news you don't want to miss.
We have selected for you the 9 wine news of the month to know, to always keep up with the wine world.
VINTAGE 2022
The first official information on stocks in Italian cellars has been released, now that the harvest is closed. 39.2 million hectoliters of wine are stored (+6.4% on 30 September 2021). And then there are 11.5 million hectoliters of must and 5.1 million hectoliters of new wine still in fermentation.
You can read the news here . The complete report is here .
The 2022 vintage seems to be excellent in quality but poor in quantity, to the point that in Franciacorta it is difficult to keep up with demand.
You can read well about all the regions. Sicily , Calabria , Tuscany . And a general point can be read here , in English.
In France , however, 44.6 million hectoliters of wine produced should be reached (+18% compared to 2021 production, devastated by the frost), according to the Ministry of Agriculture. These numbers exceed expectations: the ministry had made a forecast of 44 million hectoliters in September. Reuters writes about it.
MARKETS
Australia is paying the very high tariffs imposed by China , and important red wines are particularly affected: the regions most affected by the spiraling Chinese tariffs are those that produce Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon.
It goes much better for light red wines and whites, with excellent success for Granache and Riesling. You can read about it on The Drinks Business .
PROSECCO
Prosecco is growing rapidly, in terms of turnover, and is focusing heavily on exports to the United Kingdom .
In October there were many masterclasses in the UK and Switzerland by the Consorzio di Tutela Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco DOCG. It was an opportunity to underline how exports to the UK are growing by 18.2% in volume (9.6 million bottles) for a value of 50.2 million euros (+7.5% compared to the previous year ).
You read about it on Wine News .
PREMIUM WINES
Demand for super-premium wine and spirits in the United States is expected to decline as a result of the recession, although a full-blown collapse is not expected. On Harpers .
ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION
In the United States there is a progressive decline in alcohol consumption, according to a newly published report .
Three insights we extrapolated:
- People in the age group between 35 and 54 consume more alcohol than older and younger people.
- Men tend to consume more beer, women more wine.
- Those with a lower level of education and salaries tend to consume more beer than those with higher qualifications and higher incomes, who instead prefer wine.
PACKAGING
The Porto Protocol , formed in 2018 to offer the wine industry practical solutions in the fight against climate change, is about to publish an online guide and report on packaging for the wine industry.
The packaging report is one of the most important projects of the Porto Protocol this year: packaging contributes strongly to the carbon footprint of the wine industry. On Wine Business .
GLASS
In California there are those who will soon ask their customers to take the finished bottles back to the cellar, to recycle the glass.
BEST SOMMELIER IN ITALY FISAR
A competition was held for the title of best sommelier in Italy by one of the two main Italian associations, FISAR. The winner was Gian Maria Maitan from Veneto who we interviewed .
WORDS OF WINE
Esther Mobley wrote a piece that is widely circulated among professionals, entitled Why natural wine people desperately want you to stop saying 'funky' .
A few years ago, "funky" was only on the lips of experts when referring to unconventional wines. Exploding in popularity, "funky" has become synonymous with natural wine but used so massively to the point of describing a vague range of flavors and aromas. It seems that wine professionals are rejecting "funky" and that its successor soon on the lips of all passionate people will be " f-ed up ", to indicate a proudly natural wine, even completely defective.
The world of wine is made up of lexical fashions, and also of a certain snobbery.
