CONSUMERS ARE DRINKING LESS BUT SPENDING MORE: WINES OVER 5 EUROS INCREASED 11% IN ITALY IN 2011 AND QUALITY–PRACTICAL (MEALS AND GIFTS) REPLACED THE PRICE-QUALITY RATIO. THAT IS WHY IN TUSCANY, NICOLÒ INCISA ROCCHETTA AND GIUSEPPE MEREGALLI ...

Consumers are drinking less but spending more: wines over 5 euros a bottle grew 11% in volume in 2011 compared to 2010. The quality/price ratio has been replaced with “practical” choices (meals, gifts or dinner invitations), while quality is always foremost: 41% of consumers today are attentive and knowledgeable. An example? Brunello di Montalcino (average price 17.20 euros), rose in large-scale distribution by 14.8% and Chianti (with 61 million euros turnover) is right behind the leader Lambrusco in value. Tuscan wines, with their wide range of typologies at different price ranges, are leaders both in Italy and abroad, including established and emerging markets. In China there was a boom in sales of over 90% in 2011 and the leader was Vernaccia of San Gimignano.

In Tuscany, two of the most famous names in Italian wine, have decided to launch their challenge of luxury wines, but on a budget: the Marquis Nicolò Incisa della Rocchetta, owner of Tenuta San Guido and the most famous Italian wine in the world, Sassicaia and Giuseppe Meregalli, Chairman of the Meregalli Group, the leading distributor of luxury wines, who together with his son Marcello, heads the Tenuta Fertuna in Maremma. Following a successful first year and in the name of a 25-year-old union, they have put Pactio 2010 and Droppello 2011 on the market, a red and a white that they produce together.

The first is ruby in color, tasting of red fruit and vanilla on the palate, with a very soft finish; the second is a pale yellow color, fresh, with excellent acidity and mineral balance, and a delicate fragrance. They have the warm land of the Maremma area in Toscana in common, where the Tenuta Fertuna is located and where the precious grapes were brought to maturity through the careful work of the winemakers and technicians who supervised the operations, ensuring product quality, led by Paolo Rivella of Fertuna. Droppello had the support of the wine experts of Tenuta San Guido, led by Graziana Grassini: two premium wines that are coming to market at an affordable price. "Droppello is a term that evokes a passion of mine, as well as a great friendship with the desire to produce this white wine," says Nicolò Incisa della Rocchetta. "Maybe 25 years ago we did not think of sealing a union that was cemented success after success with a wine, but today Pactio celebrates the anniversaries and seals our reciprocal esteem and great friendship”, said Giuseppe Meregalli.

It is not just a matter of consumption trends: "We are happy and proud to bring the new vintages of Pactio and Droppello to the market”, said Marcello Meregalli of the Meregalli Group and head of the Tenuta Fertuna, “after the excellent results registered in their first years: through the marketing of these wines, the entire turnover of Tenuta Fertuna grew 30% compared to 2010. And exports confirmed this success: the export market was excited to receive the products, allowing us to enter into 10 new countries, including Europe, South America, Southeast Asia and Africa, and to be present on the maps of the top Italian restaurants as well as the Manhattan restaurants Posto, Babbo, Becco, Eataly and Felidia". It is also a question of numbers.