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Valpolicella Soars in 2021

The Valpolicella Wine Consortium has recently announced the numbers for the first five months of 2021. The numbers show around 30 million state seals were issued for the Valpolicella, Ripasso, Amarone and Recioto origins, which is 18% over 2020.

Compared to 2019, the increase is 14%. Amarone, which after a disastrous January 2021 (-24.5 %), accelerated to a sensational 38 % increase by May 31. According to the consortium’s analysis, these are the best figures of the last decade. “A total of 7.4 million bottles were brought to market in this period, two million more than last year. Not only is the quantity excellent, but the performance also gives us hope. According to the latest price list of the Chamber of Commerce of Verona, the open goods have increased by 4.5 percent,” Christian Marchesini, president of the consortium, states. The figures are due to a combination of the restrictive measures of the consortium as well as the high flexibility of many small businesses, which immediately knew how to move on unfamiliar terrain like e-commerce and food retail.

Valpolicella achieved an overall growth of 14 % after a strong pick-up in the month of May (+48 percent). Ripasso closed with an increase of twelve %. Stocks are down for all typologies of Valpolicella, especially Amarone and Recioto. In May 2021, five million bottles less were registered than in May 2020 (-8 percent).

Source: Valpolicella Wine Consortium

Monks of France’s First Papal Vineyard Sell Wine to Support the Community

The Benedictine monks and nuns who tend to the first papal vineyard in France have launched an appeal to sell their wine to help the families of local wine growers.

Located on a hill in the Rhône Valley, the Abbeys of Le Barroux work together with the local wine-marking community to cultivate the land first established as a vineyard by Pope Clement V in 1309.

The monks are hoping to sell 15,000 bottles of their Via Caritatis wine during the month of June to help support the community after it was hit hard by a loss of sales due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fr. Michael, an American who has been a part of the French monastery for more than 30 years, told CNA that around 80 families directly depend on the winery for their livelihood.

“They work hard. They are in difficult conditions. Their wine in the past wasn’t recognized for what it was, which was a pretty high-quality wine, so they were just not making enough money to get by,” the Benedictine states.

“These families around us were making good wines, especially because we have the soil that is capable of producing … great wine, if it was cared for properly … The monastery was able to invest and to help these wine-making families get out of a situation which, all alone, I don’t think that they would have ever been able to get out of,” he explained.

With the help of Philippe Cambie, who has been recognized as one of the world’s top oenologists, or experts in the study of wine and winemaking, the monks have been able to create blends that produce award-winning wines from the combination of small plots of land owned by local growers with the abbey vineyard. Cambie has contributed to the wine production in its last stages at both former papal vineyards, which grow the same grape varieties.

The monks’ wine is less expensive than the nearby Châteauneuf-du-Pape vineyards, which, Fr. Michael points out, was founded later by Pope John XXII.

“You can buy wine for a cheaper price, and yet it can be almost the equivalent of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. And at the same time, by buying this wine you are helping winemakers who are in need of money at this time, and COVID-19 has not helped their situation,” the priest said.

The Benedictines’ Via Caritatis winery is selling red, white, and rosé wines which ship to the United States and elsewhere in Europe – website – http://www.via-caritatis.com/

Fr. Michael said that they chose the name Via Caritatis for their winery because “wine is a symbol of charity, and also the charity of Christ who gave himself.”

The monks support themselves through manual labor, according to the rule of Saint Benedict.

“The monks try and strive to produce something capable of making them not dependent on others, and not only that, but to produce enough to be able to give charity to the poor, to give a part of the income to their poor,” he said. “We give part of our income here, every year, we give it to charitable organizations.”

“A bottle of wine is not just something that man uses to nourish his body,” he said. “If Christ chose wine to transform into his blood, it is for a reason, and he chose wine for a reason. So wine is something material, but it’s something that’s called by Christ to be transformed into something spiritual.”

Source: The Catholic Telegraph

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Benvenuto Brunello 2021 Preview – Tasting Sensational New Vintage Brunellos – A Tempting Invitation To Discover the Wines and the Captivating Region of Montalcino – by Filippo Magnani

After Benvenuto Brunello “OFF”, the first preview of the year which was in March, an additional edition of Benvenuto Brunello was organized for the press from the 16th and the 17th May dedicated to the Tuscan wine previews “Anteprime di Toscana”. Thanks to the diligence of the Consortium Brunello di Montalcino, the tastings took place in-person in the heart of Montalcino village in the beautiful Monastery of Sant’Agostino. Forty kilometers south of the city of Siena, Montalcino is a stunning hilltop town in the heart of Tuscany. With rolling hills and farmland of rare beauty, the village’s distinctive mount is encircled by forest. Vineyards and olive groves fill the countryside and many historical stone buildings are witness to centuries of cultivation in this area. Montalcino and the villages of Castelnuovo dell’Abate, Sant’Angelo, and Torrenieri are picturesque hamlets with an overall population of just over five thousand inhabitants. This territory is of particular historical character, having never lost touch with the cultural heritage and traditions.

It is important to note that this DOCG is among the wine-growing areas with the highest organic incidence in Italy.

Following safety protocols, the capacity of participants was extremely limited and ensured proper distance between persons. All journalists and writers were called to taste and evaluate the last vintages released on the market: Rosso di Montalcino 2019, Brunello di Montalcino 2016, and Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2015. We can say that this edition of Benvenuto Brunello will surely remain a memory in each of our minds, not only for the outstanding organization that the consortium put on stage but also for the combination of two remarkable vintages.

Both 2016 and 2015 had exceptional conditions in the vineyard and produced wines of absolute complexity and longevity.

The vintage 2016 was outstanding in terms of balance. Rainfall throughout the winter into the beginning of the spring was consistently average. After the blooming, rains in July set the perfect conditions for a great vintage. Summer shifted from not so high temperature (max 32°) to very chilly nights (min 13°), diurnal moderate temperatures alternated to night precipitation, which offered the wines an amazing structure, complexity, and aroma. The maturation took longer, a fundamental factor both for the different layers of the aroma and the quality of the tannins (especially in the Sangiovese grape and for long lasting wines)

The 2015 vintage was characterized by a cool winter preceded by an irregular spring, which continued with a hot growing season during the summer with adequate rain. Harvest brought limited rainfall and good ventilation which favoured the last stages of ripening of the bunches up to harvest…..continues .. https://bit.ly/3zbCDJR.

I have missed my friends and colleagues during this Benvenuto Brunello but I really hope that was the preview of the restart, once again in-person hopefully we will be able to discover this beautiful wine paradise in the near future.

Always a big thank to my collegue and friend Liz Palmer !

#wine #winetasting #winenews #italy #tastingnotes #winewriter #winejournalist #winetourism #winetravels #benvenutobrunello #brunello #AnteprimediToscana #Montalcino #wine #winetasting #wineblog #wineblogger #winelover #winestagram #winecritic #wineevent #vino #winetime #wineoclock #winewinewine @brunellodimontalcino #montalcino #brunellodimontalcino #benvenutobrunello #italianwine #redwine #brunellowinestage @filippomagnaniwine

Swedish wine growers establish a new industry association

Do you have Swedish wine on your wine list? Well, now it’s time!

A group of Swedish professional wine growers recently formed a new industry association.

Starting from a small-scale hobby cultivation, in just a few decades it has emerged to a large scale professional association. This new industry association has been set up to maintain the opportunities and expectations of these winemakers. The new organization has been named “Sweden’s Industry Organisation for Oenology & Viticulture (SBOV)”.

Emma Serner, founder of Långmyre Vineri has been appointed as chairman of the industry organization.

“It will be exciting and fun to lead an organization where we will jointly bring the Swedish one. the winning industry into the future. Already today there are barely twenty producers who invested and positioned themselves with both quality and quantity to be considered important for Swedish business and the experience industry in the countryside” says Emma Serner

The Swedish wine industry is a young industry with great potential. Currently, grape cultivation involves around a hundred hectares – but it is estimated that there are ten thousand hectares suitable for grape cultivating. These hectares are in coastal locations in Halland, Skåne, Blekinge, Öland and Gotland as well as at Vänern and Vättern.

“Berries grow best in cool areas – they simply get richer fragrance and greater depth of taste. The Swedish, mild summer with many hours of sun is therefore very suitable for grapes” says Lotta Nordmark at Sweden’s University of Agriculture in Skånska Alnarp.

#wine #instawine #redwine #whitewine #winenews #sweden #swedishwine #winemarketing #winemaker #vinification #winetourism #winegrower #winelist

South African Wine Harvest 2021 declared to be “Exceptional Quality”

The South African wine industry is celebrating an exceptional harvest this year thanks to cool temperatures, unusually high rainfall and a late harvest.

In terms of volume, the 2021 wine grape crop is estimated at 1,461,599 tonnes, according to the latest estimate of industry body SAWIS (South African Wine Industry Information & Systems) on 19 May 2021 – that makes it 8.9% larger than previous years.

Balancing 2020 and 2021

The 2021 harvest kicked off around two weeks later than normal due to unusually cool weather conditions throughout the season, which persisted throughout harvest time and resulted in some wine grape producers harvesting their last grapes in May.

Water resources were also replenished in most regions following the recent drought, which contributed to good vine growth, bunch numbers and berry sizes.

“Wine lovers can really look forward to remarkable wines from the 2021 crop,” said Conrad Schutte, consultation service manager of Vinpro. “The cooler weather enabled producers to harvest their grapes at exactly the right time, and viticulturists and winemakers are especially excited about good colour extraction, low pH levels and high natural acidity in cases where vineyards were managed effectively, which all point to exceptional quality wines.”…. https://bit.ly/2SEJH0z ..continues

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