Chianti Classico, the values of the Gallo Nero grow, a wine district of 800 million euros

The song of the Gallo Nero del Chianti Classico (Black Rooster of Chianti Classico) continues to be loud and clear, a healthy territory that looks to the future with over 300 years of history and forward-looking winemaking and oenological choices that are paying off in terms of critics and, above all, market. Although, 2018 recorded a small decline in sales, after 8 years of continuous growth, due to the scarcity of the 2017 vintage (-27% on average), the values have significantly grown, especially thanks to the most important wines of the qualitative pyramid of Chianti Classico, the Riserva, and the Gran Selezione, which have collected, in 2018, 37% of production, and 52% of turnover (source Maxidata) of bottled wine. And to guarantee higher profitability, even 35% more than 2017, to wineries that do not bottle, explains the Chianti Classico Consortium, was the approval of the bulk, which in 2018 was on a very high average, between 280 and 310 euros per hectolitre. An important and widespread wealth between two provinces, Siena and Florence, and the municipalities of Castellina in Chianti, Gaiole in Chianti, Greve in Chianti and Radda in Chianti and, in part, those of Barberino Tavarnelle, Castelnuovo Berardenga, Poggibonsi and San Casciano in Val di Pesa, an area that covers over 70,000 hectares, of which 10,000 are vineyards, and 7,500 are Chianti Classico. Numbers at the center of the Chianti Classico Collection, an event signed by the Consortium led by Giovanni Manetti, a preview of the 2018, 2017 and 2016 vintages of the Riserva, as well as the new certified products “Gran Selezione”, staged on 11 and 12 February at the Stazione Leopolda in Florence, with almost 200 wineries and over 730 labels for tasting, which will fill the glasses of over 250 journalists from 30 countries around the world.
This is also a sign of interest in Chianti Classico, which is now a protagonist on the tables of the entire world, in fact, in the U.S., above all, they are confirmed as the first absolute market, with Americans drinking a bottle of Chianti Classico out of three (34% of the total, +1% over 2017), while Italy is confirmed as the second market, with 23% of sales, while Canada is on the podium of the Gallo Nero markets, which has absorbed 11% of total sales of wines of the denomination (+3% over 2017).
The German market then moved to fourth place (8%), followed by Scandinavian countries (5%), the United Kingdom (5%) and then Switzerland, Japan, Benelux, China and Hong Kong, Russia and France, while Australia also began to open up, which many producers consider being a market with excellent development potential.
“We are very satisfied with the affirmation of Chianti Classico on the international markets - declared Giovanni Manetti, president of the Consortium - and, in particular, with the positive trend of the United States and Canada and the stability of all the other historical markets for Gallo Nero wines. I am also very pleased with the result of the domestic market, which rewards the long work of relaunching the denomination over the years and culminated with the introduction of the Gran Selezione, the new type of Chianti Classico on the market from 2014. There is still much more that can and must be done, and it is one of the main objectives of my term as President to “enhance further” the denomination, contributing to consolidating its value and image in the world’s oenological excellence sector”.
From the Consortium’s survey of Gallo Nero sales, Chianti Classico boasts a very widespread commercial penetration; even though the concentration of sales in its historical markets is still significant, the Gallo Nero wines also reach very uncommon destinations, beyond the usual trade routes and all over the world, in fact, the denomination wines are spread in over 130 countries.
“For some years now the Consortium has been investing in strengthening its historical markets, also with some innovative activities that will allow us to have an ever more constant and widespread presence in the various countries of reference”, says President Giovanni Manetti. “We will try, as far as possible, not to neglect anyone: each market is, in fact, important for Chianti Classico and 2019, thanks also to a deeper understanding of sales and prices in the various markets, it will also be a year dedicated to study and identification of the best dynamics to be put in place in the near future, in order to consolidate and continue to grow strategic markets such as, for example, Germany, England or the farthest Japan, and open new outlets and conquer new one's groups of consumers in markets that are still emerging, such as, for example, in China“.
Among the historical markets, on the other hand, there is the United Kingdom, home of the only new “Chianti Classico Ambassador” of 2019, the oldest of the wine culture in England, Steven Spurrier, one of the most authoritative and historical voices of the world's wine critics, creator, in 1976, of the first blind tasting between Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon of California and France, the famous “Judgement of Paris”, and now contributor of “Decanter”. In 2007, he wrote that, according to him, Chianti Classico would have replaced nothing less than Medòc in the wineries of many wine lovers around the world, because it is still a “vineyard-driven” territory. A prediction that, apparently, seems more than right.
Spurrier’s passion for Chianti Classico is even stronger: “I have been participating in the Previews of Chianti Classico for over 20 years, but I have been drinking Chianti Classico for over 50 years. I am often asked to express an opinion on which is my favorite wine - said Spurrier at the Chianti Classico Collection - and my answer to this question is that there are too many excellent wines to choose from, however there is a wine that I always want to have in the cellar and this is Chianti Classico, and nowadays, for its great quality, I think even more”.
Spurrier that joins the other Chianti Classico Ambassadors already nominated (Massimo Castellani for Italy, Jeffrey Porter for the USA, Michael Godel and Michaela Morris for Canada and Isao Miyajima for Japan), and that is just one of the many top names in wine criticism, world and Italian, increasingly inclined to reward the quality of Chianti Classico.