At “Wine & Siena,” the coming year of Italian wine, between sustainability and climate change

The “year to come” will see Italian wine struggling with the ecological transition, with a view to a wine production that is sustainable, but also competitive internationally; but also with the effects of a climate change that, from year to year, from vintage to vintage, is increasingly felt among the vineyards of Italy. Between tastings, while admiring the masterpieces of Italian art in the palaces of the city of the Palio, the sector’s most topical issues will also be discussed at “Wine & Siena - Masterpieces of Taste” 2025, at edition No. 10, staged from January 25 to 27, with the excellence awarded by The WineHunter Award, including wine, food, spirits and beer. In particular, on January 26 in the talk “The Year to Come” in the halls of the Santa Maria della Scala Museum Complex, Professor Angelo Riccaboni will present the “DiVino Observatory” 2025, a new and unprecedented research conducted by the Santa Chiara Lab of the University of Siena on 3,000 Italian agricultural enterprises, including 600 wineries, to understand where sustainability stands in the sector and the level of competitiveness achieved by the companies, while in focus on climate change in the vineyard, Professors Simone Bastianoni and Giampiero Cai will present the latest research of the Agrifood Living Lab with the Microcosmo and Aeroponica stations, the most advanced in Italy to study the effects of water stress on vines.
How much electricity and water do wineries consume? Are our farms efficient? How many of them focus on renewable energy production? And in labor, is the gender gap still present? How many focus on certifications and how do they perceive the role of consortia? These are just some of the topics touched upon by the “DiVino Observatory” 2025 at “Wine & Siena”. Presenting the new research will be Professor Angelo Riccaboni, steering committee chairman of the Santa Chiara Lab, which conducted the research in its activities as Spoke 9 of the Pnrr-funded National Agritech Center, together with Cristiana Tozzi, project manager of the Siena Food Lab Foundation. The second panel is dedicated to the effects of climate change in the vineyard and the state of research. Simone Bastianoni, delegate for Sustainability at the University of Siena and lecturer, will take stock of the latest international research and the evolution of scenarios compared to the forecasts of the past years. It was he, in past editions of the event, who forcefully raised the alarm in the wine world. Giampiero Cai, professor of Biology and Digital Biotechnology, will present the latest research of the Santa Chiara Lab with the Microcosm and Aeroponics stations, probably.
Combining the masterpieces of Italian art with great wines: a unique and inimitable “calling card” that only Italy can offer in the world and that characterizes Siena, one of the most important cities of art in the world, going down the medieval streets that wind from the Duomo and the “Facciatone”, where the view sweeps over the Sienese countryside “painted” with vineyards, toward Piazza del Campo, to admire Simone Martini’s frescoes of the Maestà and Guidoriccio da Fogliano and Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Allegory and Effects of Good and Bad Government cycle in the Palazzo Pubblico, and the extremely rich Collection of Works of Art housed in the Palazzo Sansedoni with its unparalleled view of the square where the Palio is run, from the Monte dei Paschi di Siena Foundation, and back up in the shadow of Rocca Salimbeni, the historic headquarters of Italy’s oldest bank, Palazzo Patrizi, home of the Accademia degli Intronati, and the world’s only Museum of Sienese Biccherne in Palazzo Piccolomini, towards the noble Palazzo Squarcialupi and the Museum Complex of Santa Maria della Scala, where the backdrop for the tastings is the very old “Spedale” with its beautiful cycle of Pellegrinaio frescoes, among the most important of the 15th century in Siena and Italy: here are the opportunities offered by “Wine & Siena”.
Protagonists of the event, signed by the patron of “Merano WineFestival” and Gourmet’s International, “The WineHunter” Helmuth Köcher, and desired by Confcommercio Siena, led by Stefano Bernardini, in collaboration with the Municipality of Siena and the patronage of the Region of Tuscany, more than 150 of the best wine productions - from centuries-old wineries such as Abbazia di Novacella from Alto Adige, and newcomers such as Nododivino of Citra Vini, a giant of Italian cooperation, from Abruzzo, from Barolo and Langhe labels such as Poderi Gianni Gagliardo to Monferrato wineries such as Vicara, from Oltrepò Pavese with Monsupello to Veneto with Bottega and Farina, from Campania with the historic Marisa Cuomo, to Puglia with Varvagliane 1921 and Leone De Castris, and, of course, from Tuscany’s top Denominations, from Chianti Classico with companies such as San Felice (Allianz Group) and Vallepicciola, Tenuta di Bibbiano, Domini Castellare di Castellina and San Fabiano Calcinaia, to Bolgheri with Caccia al Piano, from Brunello di Montalcino with Fuligni and Camigliano, La Gerla, Ridolfi and Piombaia, to Nobile di Montepulciano, with names such as Salcheto, Lunadoro and Carpineto, from Chianti with Geografico to Valdarno with Il Borro of the Ferragamo family, among others - and gastronomic products (joined by Extrawine and Consortia) carefully selected by The WineHunter tasting committees and awarded the prestigious The WineHunter Award. There will be 60 products, including chocolates, cheeses, olive oil, meats and cured meats, beer, charcuterie, pasta, rice, cereals, beer, grappa and liqueurs, from Tuscany to Alto Adige, Campania to Marche and Abruzzo.
In particular, the ribbon-cutting ceremony will be on January 24 at Palazzo Patrizi, followed by the Small Plates Dinner at Palazzo Squarcialupi at Santa Maria della Scala. On January 25 and 26, “Wine & Siena” opens its doors to enthusiasts and experts for tasting in the Santa Maria della Scala Museum Complex, where, on the same dates, the “Hall of Taste” at Palazzo Squarcialupi will host a program of masterclasses and seminars dedicated to the world of food and wine, ranging from the elegance of Italy’s best sparkling wines, the sweet alchemy of passito and late harvest wines and 7 oenological excellences of the great Tuscan tradition of red wines, on January 25, and on 7 great white auteur wines, the rediscovery of amphora aging and an experience dedicated to Pinot Noir, on January 26. January 27 is dedicated to media and insiders to taste and discover new products and meet the wineries.
And, with “Wine & Siena”, visits to the prestigious Palazzo Sansedoni, headquarters of the Monte dei Paschi di Siena Foundation, are back: on January 25, on the first day of the sensory itineraries, it will be possible to discover the palace and the museum itinerary where the art collection is kept. Visitors will be taken to the rooms that were once the home of the noble Sienese Sansedoni family and that currently house the headquarters and Works of Art Collection of the Monte dei Paschi di Siena Foundation. The guided tour will allow visitors to learn about the history of the palace, the people who inhabited it and its hidden treasures through illustrations anecdotes and stories including wine. But the State Archives at Palazzo Piccolomini will also extraordinarily open the Museo delle Biccherne and the Documentary Exhibition (on January 25 and 27), with the tours dedicated in particular to the great season of the 14th century in Siena and to the “decorated” documentation of this century so fruitful for the city. There will also be a gala dinner in memory of Andrea Vanni, the creator of the event who died prematurely, the award ceremony for the “Tra Borghi e Cantine” competition, the opportunity to visit the “Constellations” exhibition at Santa Maria della Scala, and “The Solidarity Bottle”, which will collect bottles from producers to be used as a fundraiser for QuaViO odv, a voluntary organization involved in palliative care for cancer patients.
But there are also the “Fuori Wine & Siena” and “AsSaggi di vino”, the format in wine bars in which tastings are combined with talks on wine-related curiosities ranging from literature to archaeology, from art to astronomy with University of Siena professors who leave the academic classroom to give away some of their knowledge, and who give a date, the last one, on January 29, at La Macelleria, to talk about “Each wine to its glass” with Cristallerie Mezzetti.