100 WINERIES WILL REPRESENT ITALY AT THE FIRST WINE TASTING IN EUROPE ORGANIZED BY THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE. WINE SPECTATOR AND VERONAFIERE HONOR ITALY IN VERONA. VINITALY “WANTS YOU”. SANDERSON (WS): “VISIBILITY FOR ALL ITALIAN REGIONS…

One hundred and three wineries from every Italian region: historic brands, famous names, noble wines are the "spokesmen" of entire territories, all emblems of an industry that has established itself worldwide as the symbol par excellence of Italy. Today it is not only a long tradition carried on by small and large vignerons, but an important part of the economy: the wine world at Vinitaly, the international Fair for the wine industry of Veronafiere in Verona (March 25-28th; www.vinitaly.com) has chosen to pay tribute to the 2012 edition together with "Wine Spectator", one of the most influential international publications on the market, which selected the "Best 100 Italian Wine Producers" that will be featured, with their wines (103 in all) on March 24th at Palazzo della Ragione in Verona: "OperaWine" (www.operawine.it), the first wine tasting organized by the American magazine in Europe at "Vinitaly" is precisely the prestigious premiere. "Wine Spectator’s decision to participate,” said Ettore Riello, president of Veronafiere,”will bring significant added value to Vinitaly".
Giovanni Mantovani, CEO of VeronaFiere says that this event, "will promote the image of Italian wine as an expression of exclusive territories, in terms of their history, culture and landscape”. So, there will be Italian wineries from A to Z like: Abbazia di Novacella, Aldo Conterno, Allegrini, Altesino, Antinori , Argentiera, Argiolas , Arnaldo Caprai, Avignonesi, Barone Ricasoli, Bellavista, Bertani, Biondi Santi and Bisol, along with Braida di Giacomo Bologna, Bruno Giacosa, Ca 'del Bosco, Cantina Terlano, Carpenè Malvolti , Carpineto, Casa Vinicola Zonin, Casale del Giglio, Casanova di Neri, Castellare di Castellina and Castello Banfi. "For the first time, 100 Italian wine producers - creative but "individualists", will all be together in the same room," says Stevie Kim, general coordinator of Vinitaly in the World. They are individualists, certainly, but together they have made the history of Italian wine, past and present, within and outside the borders. Wineries like Castello di Ama, Castello di Volpaia, Castelluccio, Ceretto, Ciccio Zaccagnini, Col d'Orcia, Cusumano, Damilano, Di Majo Norante, Donnafugata, Drei Donà, Duca di Salaparuta, Ercole Velenosi, Falesco, Fattoria del Cerro, Fattoria di Felsina, Fattoria le Pupille, fattoria Zerbina, Ferrari-Fratelli Lunelli, Feudi di San Gregorio, Fonterutoli, Fontodi, Gaja, Galardi and Gancia.
And according to a selection process, said Bruce Sanderson, the tasting director of "Wine Spectator", "that would give visibility to all the Italian wine regions, with companies selected based on the historical significance they have for their territories, as well as for their value as producers. "Moreover”, Sanderson adds, "We have always had a high regard for Italian wine. And this tasting wants to spread the knowledge of Italian wines’ high level of quality and diversity, "based on the first and not surprisingly so, "love story" between the United States, the largest wine market in the world and Italian wine, symbol of a very specific lifestyle, that has been going on forever. And with brands like Giuseppe Mascarello & Figlio, Hofstätter, Leonildo Pieropan , Les Crétes, Librandi, Livio, Luciano Sandrone, Lunae Bosoni, Lungarotti, Marchesi de 'Frescobaldi, Marco Felluga, Masciarelli, Masi, Mastroberardino, Mastrojanni, Mezzacorona, Michele Chiarlo, Mionetto, Mirafiore, Montevetrano, Nino Negri, Nozzole-Folonari, Paolo Scavino, Pecchenino and Petrolo, wine as the icon of Made in Italy lifestyle will be celebrated at "OperaWine" also by Santo Versace, the owner of the famous fashion designer and president of Altagamma.
There will be two sessions: one exclusive by invitation only; the other restricted to 500 wine lovers (it only takes a click and a webcam to leave a video message on www.operawine.it and win two entrance tickets, answering only one question: explain "what made you fall in love with Italian wine "...), who can all taste the famous wines of the wineries Pio Cesare, Planeta, Prunotto, Renato Ratti, Roberto Anselmi, Rocca delle Macìe, San Felice, Santa Margherita, Silvio Nardi, Siro Pacenti, Suavia, Tasca d'Almerita, Tedeschi, Tenuta d’Ornellaia, Tenuta di Biserno, Tenuta San Guido , Tenuta San Leonardo, Tenuta Sette Ponti, Sella & Mosca, Terre Blanche, Terredora di Paolo , Testamatta-Bibi Graetz, Tommasi , Tormaresca, Umani Ronchi , Valdicava, Vietti and Zenato.
All of this at an event, said the executive editor of "Wine Spectator", Thomas Matthews, that "we hope will show the world the greatness and the quality of Italian wine production today," and that is just the first step on a journey to magnetize more and more press attention and international audience, highlighting the variety of Italian nectar that attracts the the world.

Focus - The appeal of Italy's wines? Auctions and Liv-ex "measure" it
What is the appeal of Italy's wines? The big auctions "measure" it. In 2011, the confirmation came from Gelardini & Romans’ first 100% Made in Italy auction in Hong Kong: more than 300.000 euros paid for "legends" such as Giacomo Conterno, Barolo Monfortino, Tenuta dell’Ornellaia, Masseto (after the record 9.597 euros for a 2006 Imperial in Rome), Gaja, Barbaresco, Sperss, Biondi Santi Brunello di Montalcino, Tua Rita, Redigaffi, Tenuta San Guido, Sassicaia, Antinori, Tignanello and Solaia. Same place, but Christie's auction, Ornellaia, Masseto, Tignanello and Allegrini Amarone beat even the French wines. 2012 started off at Sotheby’s auction in New York with 49.000 US dollars for a Nabucodonosor 2007 Masseto, making it a special case: + 322% average value over a 10 year period. The result? In the Liv-ex Power 100 of the most powerful brands on the world wine market, France rules but Italy is growing, with Sassicaia (at number 27), Ornellaia (35), Tignanello (50), Masseto (51), Solaia (62), Gaja (63), and Sandrone (92).

Focus - Vinitaly 2012: business, tastings & market
Public, business, tastings, markets and a more international look: this is Vinitaly 2012, at VeronaFiere in Verona from March 25- 28th, in its new format from Sunday to Wednesday (www.vinitaly.com).
There will be many signature tastings: "Tasting Ex ... Press" with wines from around the world; "The biographies of great wines-Frescobaldi, Gaja, Ornellaia and Florio" of Vinitaly and Ais-Bibenda; "'80, 90 and 2000: Thirty years of Amarone Art with the Amarone Families; "From Father to Son-the generational change in the great wine families" (Argiolas, Chiarlo, Donnafugata, Zonin, Ferrari) by the Civilization of Drinking magazine and "3 glasses at Vinitaly 2012". And if "VIVIT-Vineyards, winemakers, terroir", the show dedicated to "organic", wine is the novelty in this 2012 edition, there is also space for the analysis and research on the consumption of wine in big supermarket chains by Symphony IRI, on the buying behavior of the supermarket with sociologist Marilena Colussi and Cra-Customized Research & Analysis, and consumption outside the home-Confcommercio (Italian federation of merchants and shopkeepers) and Unicab. And, the trends of today and tomorrow, with the experts. "We have invested in the Italian and foreign traders incoming to mark the importance of fair trade," says Vinitaly’s brand manager, Elena Amadini. A fair that more and more is making Italian wine known to the world, "an industry that unlike the economy, is healthy, and has exceeded 10 billion euros in revenue," said the CEO of VeronaFiere, Giovanni Mantovani.