Italian wineries are still investing in catering. Like Masi in Munich and Pasqua at Harrods

Not only producers of great Italian wines, but also restaurateurs. And not only with restaurants in their estates, and more and more often Michelin starred (as we have often talked about) with restaurants, owned or in the joint venture, with the brand of the winery, in order to strengthen their own positioning on the market, to create culinary outposts where the winery's wines are protagonists, and where, through cooking, to make their brand known even to those who are not passionate about wine. Simplifying, there is everything in the strategy of many important groups of Italian wine, which aimed and continue to aim at catering as a complementary business, in a path that, in this phase of exit from the pandemic, seems to have new vigor. The most articulated and "historical" case, probably, is the one of “Cantinette Antinori”, a restaurant outpost of the historical Tuscan company, which, from the fifteenth-century Palazzo Antinori in Florence, then spread to Zurich, Switzerland, Moscow, Russia, Vienna, Austria, and to Montecarlo, in the Principality of Monaco. Moreover, there is the experience of “Spazio Bollicine Ferrari”, of the Trentodoc brand, in the most important airports of Italy such as Fiumicino, Linate and Malpensa, as well as in Madonna di Campiglio, pearl of the Brenta Dolomites, where the project started. Then there is the Frescobaldi experience, another leading name in Tuscan and Italian wine, which began with the “Wine Bar dei Frescobaldi” project and then evolved into the “Frescobaldi Restaurant” in Florence and London (and which is currently seeing the debut of the “Frescobaldi Wine Experience” on board the Costa Firenze, the new Costa Crociere ship dedicated to the Renaissance). Again, there is the case history of VyTA, led by Niccolò Marzotto, one of the four brothers at the helm of the Santa Margherita Group to which the brand is connected, and which started in 2004 in Rome's Termini station, and then landed in those of Milan Centrale, Turin Portanuova, Venice Santa Lucia, Bologna Centrale and Florence Santa Maria Novella, passing through the Casa del Cinema in Rome and the Enoteca Regionale del Lazio, and in 2019 landed in London, in Covent Garden. Or, to give another example, there is that of the Bottega Prosecco Bars of the famous Treviso winery, which range from the airports of Dubai, Bologna, Fiumicino, Malpensa, Birmingham, Burga and Varna, in Bulgaria, passing through the Viking Line Cinderlla ship, in Stockholm, and the InterContinental Hotel in Abu Dabi, and, recently, landed in the world of British racetracks, with the project Bottega Terrazza Bar & Restaurant and Bottega Garden Bar, thanks to an agreement with the British group Arc (Arena Racing Company, which controls 16 racetracks where almost 40% of British races are held). These are just a few examples of a kaleidoscope of wines and flavors that is getting bigger and bigger. In recent days, for example, the opening in Munich, in the luxury street Maximilianstrasse, of the new “Masi Wine Bar”, of the Masi Agricola group, a leading reality of Valpolicella, which joins those in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Zurich and Tupungato (Argentina). “The opening in Munich strengthens the presence of the Masi Wine Experience in international markets - comments Federico Girotto, Masi CEO - and is at the same time synergic with our distribution in Germany, a country where we have high development potential. The new location, in its uniqueness, will be tangible support to the value of the brand, which gets closer to consumers while remaining wine-centric, of course, but also taking on an increasing lifestyle dimension”. “We are proud of this new opening where our style made of authenticity, hospitality and internationality is expressed to the fullest. I am convinced - adds Raffaele Boscaini, Masi Marketing Director - that this is the best business card to bring the Masi brand to all wine lovers, not only of wine but more in general of that wellness, conviviality and simplicity which characterize the Italian lifestyle which represents a model all over the world”.
And, for a reality that has already opened, another is about to arrive, on July 12th, in London, signed by another leading reality of Valpolicella and Veneto, Pasqua Vigneti e Cantine, in the prestigious Harrods luxury department store, where the already iconic pizzeria of Harrods becomes “Pizzeria & Pasqua”, in a food and wine project that combines pizza, an iconic dish of Italy around the world, and some of Easter's most representative labels, such as Passione Sentimento, Valpolicella Ripasso and Amarone Famiglia Pasqua, 11 Minutes rosé, Y rosé, the multi-vintage Hey French and Valpolicella Mai Dire Mai, as well as great classics from Italy and the Veneto region. “Thanks to the synergic partnership that binds us to Harrods - comments the CEO of Pasqua Vigneti e Cantine, Riccardo Pasqua explains - we will have the opportunity to let a very high profile clientele taste the most representative wines of our winery. Being present in the luxury retail of London, the third most visited city in the world, allows us to reach an important target in an international showcase of reference for the world of wine, as well as amplify our message of excellence, from our continuous research of innovative winemaking styles and to the proposal of original and unconventional labels”. Yet another example of a strategy, that of uniting wine with the restaurant industry, both with a luxury target and a more “pop” one, in which many leading Italian wine companies seem to believe more and more, despite a year and a half that has brought the world restaurant industry to its knees, but which seems to be the protagonist of the recovery, albeit partial and uncertain, that the world is experiencing.