NOVELLO WINE 2007: A STEAL WITH PRICES FROM 3 TO 7 EUROS. 15 MILLION BOTTLES OF NEW WINE NOW ON SALE. PRODUCTION FALLS BY 10%

With an average cost of between 3 and 7 euros, it is now possible to buy one of the 15 million bottles of Novello (or new wine) 2007. Sales officially began for Novello on November 5 (a date that must be abided by by law) and, it is a tradition that has continued to grow in popularity among Italians, with production tripling over the past twenty years.
Italian agricultural union, Coldiretti noted that although production levels have fallen by 10% compared to those of 2006, the quality is, however, very good for 2007.
“The go-ahead for Novello sales” – explained Coldiretti – “fell precisely on the last day of the 2007 harvest, which curiously took place in Benevento with the picking of Aglianico grapes in San Lorenzello, at the Marisa Taffuri winery. The grapes had reached their correct ripeness very late compared to other grapes and even other Aglianico vineyards”.
This year, the reduction in bottles of Novello that were produced is also accompanied by a decrease in other products that typically accompany Novello wine. The chestnut harvest in Italy fell by 30% due, just as with grapes, to anomalous weather conditions, as well as to an insidious parasite imported from China.
Novello can be enjoyed for the next six months, after which it passes its prime. And there are many festivals and country fairs that will be celebrating it, where one can try Novello together with other autumn delicacies, from roasted chestnuts to the typical products of local territories (cold cuts, cheeses, and fresh olive oils).

Italian Novello arrived on the market before the French Beaujolais Nouveau, which does not go on sale until the third Thursday of November. And, contrary to Beaujolais, Italy’s new wines are produced in almost all of the country’s regions using, above all, mono-varieties from an ample array of varieties from the autochthonous Teroldego, Ciliegiolo, Nero d'Avola, etc., to the more common Merlot, Sangiovese, Cabernet, Montepulciano and Barbera.

Total earnings for Novello reached about 70 million euros last year, made by less than 400 producing wineries, over one third of which are located in the Veneto region. Together with Tuscany they make up half of total production, with the rest made up of the Trentino, Emilia Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Puglia, Sardinia, Sicily, Lazio, Umbria, Piedmont, and Marche regions.

This wine that is best when drunk young was created in the 1950’s in the Beaujolais region of France and its characteristics are determined by the vinification methods invented by the French researcher Flanzy.
It is profoundly different from that of traditional winemaking: the Novello grapes are not crushed and successively fermented as is the case for traditional wines, but a direct fermentation with the whole berries must be done so that only a small part of the sugars present are transformed into alcohol, giving the wine it characteristic sweet and fruity taste.