Wine News: July-August, 2009 |
YOU ARE HERE >>
|
Welcome to
VOLUME VII,
NUMBER 6 of Wine News, the e-Letter from the WineCountry.IT network. (Would you
rather see the e-Letter on your favorite browser? Use
this link. Usa il link seguente se vuoi leggere
le News in italiano).
Time flies and, being late with the current issue, we decided to cover 45 days instead of 30 as usual, with the current and the next e-Letter.
First of all, check out the article about the latest Italian Flavor Forum event, which is the 11th since our first, foray held on May 25th, 2005 at Giorgio's Ristorante Italiano in Greenbrae, CA. The event was so well received that we knew we were on the right track for the promotion of Italian quality wine and food.
So much has changed since. Giorgio's Ristorante Italiano closed, another of the many victims of the current world economic crisis. Our events have grown in participation and importance among the wine and food professionals of California.
On a different note, sadly for the Italian wine industry, the economic crisis hit hard in the first half of 2009, allowing Australian wine producers who pushed hard at the troubled US market with their low-cost wines to overtake Italian imports. While Australian imports went up 59%, Italian imports dropped 11%, thus moving ahead to the top position as main importer of wine in volume to the US.
As two recent studies shows, while Italians choose to face the lower spending budget by drinking less, but stick to quality wine, the US went the opposite direction, choosing to drink the same amount as usual of lower quality, cheaper wine.
Loris Scagliarini, WineCountry.IT President |
| ADVERTISEMENT |
|
|
Articles |
 |
|
Great Wines from Little Vineyards Festival 2009 |
| |
 On August 28, 2009, at Castelvenere, in the province of Benevento, in the Campania region, the first ever festival Grandi Vini da Piccole Vigne (Great Wines from Little Vineyards) dedicated to small vitivinicultural producers of the South of Italy will take place.
In the south, as in the rest of Italy, small, often family-run commercial farms who grow excellent grapes and produce great wines represent the majority of the vitivinicultural sector.
Continue...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Australia Did It Again |
| |
 It is like turning the clock back a few years in the US, with consumers pouring more Australian wines than ever, In fact, with a 59% increase in the first four months of 2009, Australian wine exports to the United States passed those of Italian wines, which registered an 11% decrease in volume instead. These are the numbers released by Coldiretti and are based on data provided by the Italian Wine and Food Institute. Italy still maintains first place for export value, despite a 21% decrease compared to the same period in 2008. At the same time, the export value of Australian wine to the US decreased 3.2%.
Continue...
|
|
|
|
| Italian Flavor Forum XI |
| |
 In addition to tasting 99 quality and boutique Italian wines and 11 distilled spirits, the invited guests had the opportunity to taste select Italian food products, such as extra virgin olive oil, balsamic condiments, and balsamic vinegar from Modena.
The Importer Desk, where showcases quality Italian wines and foods, such as extra virgin olive oil, condiments, balsamic seasoning and sauces, which are not yet imported in the US and whose producers are seeking importers and/or distributors for the North American market, is one of the new features.
Continue...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Italian Catholic Priest's Driver's License Suspended: Too Much Holy Wine |
| |
 Friday, June 26, 2009, a little after 10PM, the carabinieri (Italian traffic police, a branch of the Italian army) pulled a 41-year old catholic priest, Don M. C., over at the Milan exit of the Milan-Turin Highway. (Please note that in Italy police can pull over motorists at any time, without cause). The breathalyzer revealed that the ordained minister had a 0.8 alcohol content per liter, that is, over 0.3 higher than the current legal level of 0.5. The priest explained that he is a non-drinker, but that he had cunducted four Masses during the day, thus performing the ritual drinking during Eucharist four times.
Continue...
|
|
|
|
1859-2009: 150 Years of Gaja Wines |
| |
On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Azienda Vitivinicola Gaja, the estate celebrates at the Castello di Barbaresco (Barbaresco Castle).
The program is rich in events and activities specifically devised to celebrate this special anniversary at different conceptual levels, with particular attention to and and love for art.
Continue... |
|
|
|
National Selection of Seafood Wines: 10th Annual Results |
| |
 The results of the 10th Selezione Nazionale dei Vini da Pesce (National Selection of Seafood Wines), which took place in Ancona, Italy, from May 13 to 15, 2009.
CAVIT winery from Trento gained the Calice Dorico award with the best of show wine, while the Abruzzo region wines scored a significant victory, winning six gold medals at a very difficult time, following the devastating earthquake which struck the region in early April 2009.
Continue... |
|
|
|
Less Wine Drunk Worldwide |
| |
 Worldwide, people have been drinking less wine per-capita in the last three years. Now the global recession has accelerated the downward trend and worldwide consumption of wine is expected to keep falling until at least after 2010. According to the 2008 issue of The Global Drinks Market: Impact Databank Review and Forecast, average per-capita consumption in the world was about 3.5 liters, or a liter less than in 1990, marking the lowest level in at least four decades.
Continue...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
WineCountry.IT
Columns |
|
WineCountry.IT Producers |
The commercial farm Tenuta Franceta was founded in 1996, when the Codecasa family, moved by the appreciation for good wine and the love for the Piedmont Highlands, decided to revamp an evocative 18th century country house located inside the Bogogno Golf Club, in the province of Novara.
Giada Codecasa, owner of Tenuta Franceta, is proud of her estate-bottled wines and invites connoisseurs and wine lovers seeking quality wines to visit the family estate for a relaxing stay and and intriguing experience in this corner of Piedmont.
- Read More...
|
|
We continue the presentation of Italy's 155 products of Protected Designations of Origin (PDO, or, in Italian, DOP, Denominazione di Origine Protetta) and Protected Geographical Indications (PGI, or IGP in Italian, Indicazione Geografica Protetta).
This month we present two DOP pork-based cold cuts produced in the Calabria region: the Salsiccia di Calabria DOP and Soppressata di Calabria DOP.
- Read
More...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Please Note: You have received this e-Letter either because you subscribe online or because your e-mail is registered as the contact for a company registered with our online network. |
We respect your privacy. If you feel that this e-Letter was sent to you by mistake, please click here to be taken off the Italian Wine News e-Letter mailing list. We do not share our list of subscribers with other companies or associates. |
|
|
"The wine industry has not been immune from the recession, and this important study allows us to finely calibrate our marketing approach in Italy," said Leonardo Frescobaldi, President of Marchesi de' Frescobaldi. "Our family has produced high quality wine for over 30 generations and has weathered many economic downturns. We are buoyed by the recent findings, which simply reaffirm Italy's love of great wine."
