The holidays are over and we are ready for the spring full of wine fairs. Here is the list of upcoming 2023 wine events. Looking forward to seeing you!

1. Montpellier (France): Millésime Bio, 30th January – 1st February, 2023.  App. number of exhibitors: 1,500. App.number of trade visitors: 10,300. 

2. WineParis (France): Wine Paris, 13-15 February, 2023  App. number of exhibitors: 3,115. App. number of trade visitors: 30,000.

3. Dusseldorf (Germany): ProWein, 19-21 March, 2023  App. number of exhibitors: 6,800. App. number of trade visitors: 60,500.

4. Verona (Italy): Vinitaly, 02-05 April, 2023   App. number of exhibitors: 4,400. App. number of visitors: 128,000.

5. London (UK): London Wine Fair, 15-17 May, 2023.  App. number of exhibitors: 500. App. number of trade visitors: 9,000

Click on the name of the wine fair to find out more about each event.

1/2023

Here a quick update on restrictions and corona in Scandinavia:

In all the monopoly countries Norway, Sweden Finland sales in the respective monopolies have increased since March 2020. Consumers are seen to buy more of what they know and especially BiB sales have increased. On the other hand restaurants are struggling and, in spite of getting some help from the state, we are likely to see bankruptcies after months of reduced or zero turnover.

Sweden has never been locked down, but nevertheless have experienced around 90% drop in on-trade sales. Now (June 2020) the Swedish borders to the other Scandinavia countries remain closed and that will affect tax free and border trade sales. On the bright side, the Swedes will remain at home during summer and that is likely to push horeca sales during summer.

Norway has experienced substantial increase in sales in Vinmonopolet while borders and on-trade has been locked down (since beginning of March). Now borders are reopening to selected countries and on-trade is picking up again. Another big issue is the weak Norwegian Krone that has been historically low during Corona, but is now back to March value.

After the lock down, Finland is also re-opening. The cruises are working again (Tallink has opened a new route to Riga), but the borders to Sweden remain closed. As the Finns are less likely to travel far away this summer the ships could gain from that as taking the boat to Tallinn can work as a more affordable and easy vacation.

In Denmark the large Supermarket chains and online sales have gained the most from the lock down. People are seen generally to buy more affordable wines for now, but this could change as the on-trade is open again (with restrictions) and the Danes get together again.

All in all the wine sector is finding new ways of working virtual wine tastings and meetings over skype, zoom or teams are likely to stay popular (even on a lower level) also after the crisis. Restaurants have increased take away and delivery options and working from home is more acceptable. Crossing fingers we won’t see a second Corona wave. Keep safe!

6/2020

The Italian harvest 2018 is well on the way – although not finished yet. If the 2017 harvest has been among the poorest in the last fifty years, when the climatic conditions were much worse and unusual, this year the production has returned to the average values. Coldiretti, Europe’s largest agricultural professional organization, forecasts a 15% increase in wine production of 46 million hectoliters. This is up from 40 million hectoliters last year.

Experts at Coldiretti say it was an abundance of rain that caused this year’s increase in production. In June, Italy saw 124% more rain than the historical average. It helped to rebalance the water reserves of the land, after last year’s drought.

Main Italian wine magazine, Corriere Vinicolo and UIV (Unione Italiana Vini) calls the 2018 harvest “exceptionally normal”. At the same time it was not an easy vintage due to rain in many regions during the first part of the growing season. Followed by a sunny and dry August and September. OIV expects a production of 49 mill. hl. and an increase of 15% compared to 2017. With some regional differences from +5% on Sicily to +25% in Tuscany.

According to Assoenologi (the oldest and the most numerous Italian Association of enologists), all the Italian regions show the large increases in production, especially in central Italy, where the production of the last year was affected by drought. Upon the first estimates, Apulia becomes the most productive Italian region. With 11.9 million hectoliters, after several years, it returns to the first place, followed by Veneto (10.3), Emilia Romagna (7.8) and Sicily (5.8). These four regions together in the 2018 will produce about 36 million hectoliters that is about 65% of all Italian wine.

Read more (in Italian):

 www.assoenologi.it/main/images/pics/vendemmia2018_prime_previsioni.pdf

Corriere Vinicolo N. 27, 10 September 2018, p. 2

10/2018

Fired daily at noon, the Gianicolo cannon has characterized the Roman life since 1847 when Pope Pius IX ordered to fire the cannon,and the city’s church bells begin ringing all at the same time. But last February 17th 2018, the shot of the Gianicolo cannon marked not just 12:00 o’clock in the capital, but also the celebration of the “Collection of varieties of Italian vines” in the Botanical Garden Museum in Rome.

The project, promoted by the wine expert Luca Maroni and director of the Botanical Garden in Rome Professor Loretta Gratani, is aimed at the conservation of biodiversity,the study of ampelographic varieties and dissemination of Italian wine culture.

154 vines from 20 Italian regions were planted in the Botanical Garden of Rome and operated by the Sapienza University of Rome. It covers an area of about 12 hectares and is situated in the heart of the capital, surrounded by grandiose buildings, such as Palazzo Corsini, Palazzo Farnesina and Colle del Gianicolo.

Visitors from all over the world can now enjoy not only Rome’s historical and artistic heritage, but also admire the beauty of Italian ampelographs.

The address to visit the botanical garden is: Largo Cristina di Svezia, 24, 00165 Rome.

*To read more (in Italian) click on

Corriere Vinicolo pp.19-20, 5 March 2018  

03/2018

The OIV’s (International Organization of Vine and Wine) recently announced that the world production of 2017 has been the smallest registered since the late ‘50s, early-‘60s, confirming its forecast regarding the 2017 harvest production.

Due to the critical weather conditions experienced this year, 2017 harvest has seen a 8.2% drop compared with 2016. However, according to the UIV (Unione Italiana Vini), Italy confirms its position as the world’s largest producer with 40 million hl, followed by Spain with 38.4 million hl, and France with 37.2 million hl.

As the UIV president Ernesto Abbona stated, the data collected illustrates a strong quantitative variability not only between Italian regions but also between different micro areas within the same territory and even between vineyards. As a result, the UIV registered variable quantities productions throughout Italy. (see graph below)

For example, Falesco in Lazio says that although there has been a 50% drop, they are very satisfied with the high quality and concentration. In north of Italy, major losses were recorded in Lombardia and Piemonte, with a drop of 27,5% in both regions, and a 32,5% drop in Valle d’Aosta. In Puglia, Organic Winery Felline also experienced a 50% drop of Primitivo di Manduria due to the months of drought, but states the quality is very high.  Lastly in the south, Sardegna and Sicilia suffered a severe loss of 35%

Prosecco Superiore Asolo DOCG producer Montelvini says that despite the smaller then average 2017 vintage situation in Italy (- 20% in Prosecco), the price of grapes have risen above 30% due to the worldwide success of Prosecco. According to bulk wine merchant Ciatti, this expected harvest shortfall, combined with the tightening supply-demand situation globally, resulted in a very active market in Italy. While production in many regions is facing extreme challenges, Ciatti notes that global wine consumption is increasing.

In addition, UIV states that the Italian exports have reached historical values, showing a tendency growth of more than 6% in volume and value. By maintaining this growth rate, Italy should reach the threshold of 6 billion euro value and a volume of more than 21 million hectoliters by the end of the year”(ANSA).

*To read more (in Italian) click on

Corriere Vinicolo pp.1-3, 25 September 2017

Unione Italiana Vini, 7 September 2017

Redazione Ansa, 7 September 2017

Internation Organization of Vine and Wine, 2017

11/2017

Extreme heat wave in Italy and the rest of Southern Europe this summer is predicted to cause massive quantity reduction of 2017 harvest (Unione Italiana Vini). Acc. to current harvest prognoses, Italian wine production this year will be 40.023.154 hectoliters, which is down -26% from the last year. (Estimates by Osservatorio del Vino UIV in partnership with Ismea, dated 03/09/17). Italian regions estimated to have the biggest quantity drop are Sardinia, Sicily and Umbria (Estimates by Osservatorio del Vino UIV).

Unusual weather pattern. Early this year, Italy suffered through late-spring frost (JR; Osservatorio del Vino UIV). However, expect great variability among the regions, as April frost affected mostly lower lying vineyard areas. In addition, frost was not the only difficulty faced by wine producers. In July-August, Italy, as well as almost all of the Southern Europe, was hit by a heat wave, with temperatures reaching as high as 43ºC (JR; Osservatorio del Vino UIV). Late-spring frost followed by drought were “set to shrink yields dramatically” (JR). In fact, according to the early estimates, 2017 harvest can be the lowest in quantity for the last 50 years (Osservatorio del Vino UIV).

Record low and early. Harvest began unusually early this year; in some parts of Italy up to 1 month early (Osservatorio del Vino UIV). We have yet to see the final figures of 2017 harvest. Already, according to Osservatorio del Vino UIV, grapes are generally expected to have higher than usual sugar concentration. In a more positive scenario, Osservatorio del Vino UIV predicts that current September rains could benefit some late ripening varieties that are yet to be picked. We’ll follow the situation and return with an update once harvest is over. Fingers crossed!

*To read more click on

Corriere Vinicolo pp.1-3 (in Italian)  

Jancis Robinson. “How is Italy’s 2017 vintage shaping up?”

09/17

Research on U.S. millennials (by Texas Wine Marketing Research Institute) indicates a preference for wines with more residual sugar (as opposed to dry wines) and a sweet taste in general. Millennials (now 21 – 39 years old) are the largest, fastest growing wine consumer segment in the U.S. – the world leader in wine consumption*.

Type of wine. 56% of participants in the study consumed red wine more often than white (34%), rosé (8,5%) and sparkling (1,5%).

Sweet tooth. More than half of participants (53%) prefer the “sweet” wines over dry. Dry wines are favoured by 20% of respondents, and the rest (27%) are undecided.

From sweet to dry.Millennials who are 32-39 years old (so called senior millenials) report a change in their preference for sweeter wine: only 42% of seniors chose sweeter wines over dry compared to 67% of juniors (21-25 years old). Senior millennials also preferred red over white more often than junior, suggesting the progression of taste with age.

*To read more click

Corriere Vinicolo (in Italian) 

Wine Institute 

Texas Wine Marketing Research Institute  

 08/17

According to Amsterdam World Bulk Wine Exhibition statistics, 38% of all wine export is done as bulk (but only 10% in terms of value). “Vino in Cifre 2017”, released by Corriere Vinicolo, reports that Italy has a growing bulk wine category that now accounts for 26.3% of wine exports with 383 million liters exported around the world in 2016. Compared to 2015, exports have increased by 5.3%.

In comparison, bottled wine accounted for 58.5 %; however, it dropped by 4.6% compared to 2015.

In terms of bulk wine exports, Italy is the second largest producer, preceded by Spain. The two countries have market shares of 18% and 12% respectively.

For this reason, Italy (the world largest wine producer) is extremely sensitive to market trends. Data show that Italian bulk wine sales have been quite unstable during the last decade. However, a distinction needs to be made between red and white wine. While exports for the former have been quite stable, always in the range between 30 and 70 million liters with few picks in 2011, the exports for the latter have seen a drop from 100 to 60 million liters.

Corriere Vinicolo report shows that in recent years, the Italian bulk wine market has changed considerably, for example in terms of final destination markets. Italian bulk wine is both moving to the south and the north, to the traditional European markets, but also to Asian markets, such as China. However, the top 3 countries for Italian bulk wine exports remains the Northern Europe countries, such Germany, UK, Sweden, with Norway and Denmark among the top 10.

For more statistics (in Italian) here and here (in English)

02/2017

The president of UIV (Unione Italiana Vini) presented an extremely positive analysis of 2016. In particular, the year that just passed has been characterized by a growth of exports of Italian wine (3.3% in value and 1.4% in volume). Sparkling wines, in particular Prosecco, are the drivers of this growth.

More than 158 million bottles of Italian sparkling wines have been uncorked worldwide during Christmas holidays. This is an increase of 20% compared to 2015. The export of sparkling wines is driven by the D.O.P. (Denominazione di Origine Protetta) category, which shows an increase of 23% in volume and 29% in value. In particular, as stated above the star for this Christmas has been Prosecco (+28% in volume and +38% in value).

Since statistics for bottled still wines show a fall in 2016 Italian export (4.6% volume and 1.3% value), the increase of more than 20% in both value and volume of sparkling wines, particularly during the Christmas season, is the main driver of export growth. Even though the US still remains the main importing country for bottled Italian wine, data show a fall of nearly 5% in the liters of still wine sold. However, the country reports an increase of more than 20% in the liters of sparkling wine sold.

Italian exports are going strong and cheers Prosecco! 

Read more (in Italian) Unione Italiana Vini 

01/17

While the last grapes are still being picked, the OIV (International Organization of Vine and Wine) has published its 2016 harvest prognosis. OIV early estimates predict a 5% decrease of world wine production compared to 2015. In total wine production will be around 260 mhl. (million hectolitres – musts and juice excluded), making the 2016 harvest one of the smallest vintages in 20 years.

Acc. to OIV, Italy will remain the world’s largest producer with 49 mhl., which is 2% less than last year. By comparison, the second largest wine producer, France, will register a 12% decrease with 42 mhl. And Spain should have a 1% increase with 38 mhl., thereby remaining the third largest producer.   

Looking at the largest Italian regions, the UIV (Unione Italiana Vini) reports a substantial production decline around 15% in Sicily and a (smaller) increase in Veneto, Puglia and Emilia Romagna (see graph).  

Veneto remains Italy’s largest wine region. Valpolicella producer Gianni Righetti says he is generally happy with the harvest, but the quantity of Amarone and Valpolicella will nevertheless remain stable due to the new limits set by the Consorzio (producer body). In an effort to retain the high quality, the Valpolicella Consorzio has changed the percentage of grapes allowed to be set aside for “Appassimento” (drying process to produce DOCG Amarone della Valpolicella and Recioto della Valpolicella). The allowed percentage will be reduced to only 40%. Giuseppe Pan, commissioner of agriculture in Veneto explains: “Setting the limit to 40 % will allow us the long term profitability of the two DOCGs, resulting from more stable supply” (UIV).  

Similarly to the rest of central Italy, the region of Abruzzo had a great start of the season. However, it was hit by rain during the harvest months of September and October. Riccardo Brighigna from main social cooperative, Cantina Tollo explains that the growing season was slightly cooler than 2015 allowing for a slower maturation. When the rain hit in autumn, the late ripening Montepulciano variety was not mature and much work had to be done in the vineyard to avoid rot. The producers who waited for the sun harvested good quantities of fully ripe Montepulciano grapes with concentration and freshness from the long growing season. 

In another central region of Marche, Davide Orru from the Monteschiavo winery in Jesi reported a much more difficult year than 2015. With more rain and humidity requiring for much work in the vineyard. Monteschiavo just started the 3 year conversion period to become Certified Organic. Not being able therefore to use any pesticides, they had to work hard in the vineyard throughout the growing season to prevent any problems. 

In the overview below Italian wine production by region (must incl.) is outlined acc. to ISMEA-UIV published 4 Sett. 2016 

Read more (in Italian) Gambero Rosso and Unione Italiana Vini 

and International Organisation of Vine and Wine 

11/16