UIV (Unione Italiana Vini) and Vinitaly Observatory: Italian wine +18% in the USA in 2021

“The United States is increasingly a reference market for producing countries; US demand, as the Uiv-Vinitaly Observatory notes, in 2021 has reset the Covid with interest thanks to an increase in total imports in value of 26% over 2020, but also 14% compared to the pre-pandemic year 2019. In this context, Italy is confirmed, together with France, as the reference producer with almost 1/3 of the market for imported wines and a jump in value of 18%, to $2.26 billion”. Highlighting encouraging data for Italian wine is Giovanni Mantovani, CEO of VeronaFiere, who today (6.30 pm, live on Zoom, together with Antonio Laspina, CEO of Ice Agency New York and coordinator for the USA, Stevie Kim, managing director Vinitaly International, Alison Napjus, senior editor and tasting director Wine Spectator), will officially present the list of 130 Italian producers and wines (already announced in full by WineNews on Sunday, April 6) selected by “Wine Spectator” for “Opera Wine 2022” (in Verona, on April 9), the great tasting (reserved for operators and the press, by invitation only) organized by VeronaFiere and “Wine Spectator” that is now traditionally the “Preview” of Vinitaly (April 10-13, also in Verona).
The selection of the 130 flagship producers, representing all Italian regions, is getting bigger and bigger. “The expansion of the Wine Spectator selection to 130 wines is a sign of the constant qualitative growth of Italian wine in this strategic marketplace. It is no coincidence”, concludes CEO Giovanni Mantovani, “that at Vinitaly 2022, in addition to the fundamental partnership with “Wine Spectator” for OperaWine, the focus will be on our leading market in the world and Canada (two countries that will be present at the four-day business-to-business event with an extraordinary contingent of buyers, thanks also to the collaboration of Ice Agency)”.
On the podium of the ranking of Italian regions, Tuscany leads the wine team of “Opera Wine 2022”, with 36 producers, followed by Piedmont (20) and Veneto (19). The reds dominate the Wine Spectator evaluations with 97 labels. These include Barolo (15), Brunello (13), Amarone della Valpolicella and Chianti Classico (9). The super tasting of Italian wine is completed by 22 white wines, 9 sparkling wines and 2 sweet/passito wines. From North to South, there are 9 new entry wineries in “Opera Wine 2022” (Grifalco della Lucania, Guido Berlucchi, Catabbo, Oddero, Istine, Castello di Monsanto, Poggerino, Scacciadiavoli and Romano Dal Forno), while there are 21 “all timer” wineries (participating since 2012, the first edition of the tasting organised by Veronafiere and the US magazine “Wine Spectator”), namely Nino Negri, Umani Ronchi, Bruno Giacosa, Paolo Scavino, Renato Ratti, Tormaresca, Planeta, Tasca d’Almerita, Ferrari, Antinori, Castello di Ama, Castello di Volpaia, Fontodi, Ornellaia, San Felice, Tenuta San Guido, Lungarotti, Allegrini, Leonildo Pieropan, Masi and Zenato.