Italy and France are allies in wine world: the partnership between AdVini and Collina dei Ciliegi

France and Italy, which have always been competitors on the markets, are looking more and more closely at each other as allies. With high-level joint ventures. Like the one between AdVini, a large French company with over 2,300 hectares of property and 28 wineries in all the most important territories of France, from Burgundy to Bordeaux, from Provence to the Rhone Valley, but also in Stellenbosch, South Africa, led by Antoine Leccia (with a turnover of 286.6 million euros in 2019), and La Collina dei Ciliegi, the winery in Grezzana in Valpantena, led by Massimo Gianolli. Two realities that have created the newco Advini Italia Spa (51% Advini and 49% La Collina dei Ciliegi), in a project that looks at the market, distribution and wine tourism.
Among the objectives of the new company, there are the positioning of the labels of the fine wines of La Collina dei Ciliegi - Amarone, the “Classica” and “Riserve” collections, and the new cru of Super Valpantena - in the Horeca of the over 100 countries where Advini’s distribution network operates; the entry on the Italian market of a selection of Advini products, the distribution in Italy and abroad of wines with the “Borgo dei Ciliegi” label, a new line of products which, starting from the main production areas of Veneto, can be progressively extended to all the areas with the greatest Italian wine vocation, but also the proposal of an accommodation-tourist offer linked to wine, which puts Ca’ del Moro Wine Retreat - the resort of La Collina dei Ciliegi - in the experiential path of Advini, with its 6 resorts and 5 restaurants immersed in the vineyards of France and South Africa.
“The one with Antoine Leccia, President of Advini - said Massimo Gianolli, President of La Collina dei Ciliegi - is, first of all, a friendship born three years ago: we have carried out an in-depth study of the markets, created a cohesive work team in the common awareness that the trump card on the international markets is to make a system. All the more reason today, in an economic context that risks flattening the values of quality and brands, it is essential to pool who has always pursued these values, determining the success of wine in the world. Our link with French viticulture - concluded Gianolli - comes from afar and looks to the future, not only with this important commercial partnership with Advini, but also with the SuperValpantena wine project that we created in Erbin with the fundamental contribution, among others, of two of the world’s most established French agronomic scientists, Lydia and Claude Bourguignon, thanks to the intuition of our vice president, Christian Roger”.
“I made this choice because I love Italy - said Antoine Leccia - art, bon vivre, people, small villages, food, wine; quality of life. Since I met Massimo Gianolli I thought that the time to act had come. Advini Italia will allow us to launch the Borgo dei Ciliegi and the Collina dei Ciliegi in the world where AdVini SA is already present in over 100 markets; it will also be the vehicle to distribute AdVini’s fine wines on the Italian market: Maison Champy Burgundy, Chateau Beaulieu Provence, Chateau Patache d’Aux Bordeaux, Ken Forrester South Africa. The program for the future is ambitious and foresees a gradual expansion starting from Veneto to expand the portfolio, including the main Italian denominations”.
Advini Italia is led by Antoine Leccia, Chairman and Massimo Gianolli, CEO. Another high-level Italian-French partnership, therefore, which follows by a few months the one signed at the beginning of 2020 between Planeta, one of the great wine families that marked the enoic renaissance of the island, with strong roots in all the most important territories, such as Menfi, Vittoria, Noto, Etna and Capo Milazzo, and Oddo, a French family protagonist of an international project of very high profile linked to wine, who have started work on the construction, in Sicily, of Serra Ferdinandea, a new winery between Sambuca di Sicilia and Sciacca, which will produce wines based on Sicilian varieties such as Nero d’Avola and Grillo, and French wines such as Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc, which will be distributed, an absolute novelty for a Sicilian reality, by a negociant of Bordeaux, Diva, one of the most important names of the “Place du Bordeaux”.
Stories (without forgetting the French investment of the Descours family’s Epi Group, which acquired the “cradle” of Brunello di Montalcino, the “Tenuta Greppo - Biondi Santi”, in 2016) that tell of a collaboration between the wine players of Italy and France, which could become increasingly intense soon.