The charm of being Champagne. In Italy there's a boom of Reserves and Special Cuvées

That Champagne is experiencing a moment of grace, especially in Italy, is demonstrated by the Modena Champagne Experience event, now in its fifth edition and organised by Italian importers. Through the Excellence company, which brings together the major distributors and importers of quality wines and spirits in Italy, the Modena event reached important numbers, both for exhibitors involved, for cuvées presented and for the public attending, including many sector specialists who managed thus to navigate their purchases between large Maisons and small winemakers, increasingly appreciated outside their country.

Euphoria To The Test Of 2024

Certainly the moment that Champagne is experiencing is euphoric, but there is no doubt that this circumstance will have to deal with the year 2023 and above all 2024: if the quantities are the same there will cer- tainly be a high demand and a consequent rising price - explains Luca Cuzziol, President of Excellence and owner of the company that imports and distributes great Italian and foreign wines that bears his name – It will be interesting to evaluate 2024, the year in which we will return to "normal" quantities, and understand if these will be absorbed considering the rising prices. The Modena event represents a unique opportunity for the market: it is a show where the subdivision of the exhibition according to terroirs is an identifying feature that is not found in any other event. And then it also represents the state of health of the world of wine trade fairs: they must go in depth, propose a valid and high-level offer. We will try to improve further but to date there is no event of this magnitude in Europe on Champagne.»

Lorenzo Righi, director of Excellence and operational arm of the event echoes him, «This year we have reached the record number of 141 exhibitors for over 650 cu- vées in the tasting. The presence of maisons, recoltants and cooperatives operating on the Italian market has grown steadily. In addition, the presence of producers at the tasting tables was conspicuous: proof of how much the French believe in the Italian market. We have reached the record number of 6,500 tickets sold.»

FASHIONS AND TRENDS: THE ITALY CASE

Among the importers, we also asked Luca Santini, commercial director of Teatro del Vino, for an opinion: «There is undoubtedly an immoderate attention in Italy towards Champagne. It is so high that it also allows for more or less improvisation by many importers, a phenomenon which therefore leads to a lot of confusion on the market. What the structured importing companies give is a constant tasting activity, continuous training, constant updating with our customers on types, vintages, styles. This involves an onerous effort which is reflect- ed in pricing policies. But if you want quality you should never jump only on the price. In general I can say that there is great interest - as statistics show - in important cuvées and very low dosages (a typically Italian phenomenon), but overall the average tasting capacity has grown considerably by everyone.» The last consideration is made by Dick Ten Voorde and Massimo Maccianti, respectively owner and commercial director of Vino & Design: «Italy has always been an excellent market for Champagne - says Dick - but above all for the more important ones, the vintages and the special cuvées; one of our maisons that we import has a vast cellar of Reserves that go back to the Seventies: they give very small availability, but we are the ones who have the most, because they know that this kind of wine is drunk in Italy. In France there is more of a daily consumption of Champagne, instead we love the great Reserves more… It is more beautiful here!» «Champagne in Italy should be classified as some car trim levels are classified: elegance, classic, sportexplains Maccianti - "Sports" are the ones that are very fashionable, that make noise; the "Classic" are those that are less fashionable, but represent the denomination; then there are the "Elegance," which are perhaps even less understood. There's much talk about elegance in wines, but in the end it's little understood. We have to start from there, from finesse and elegance, the traits that have made Champagne great!»

The Territory Of Champagne

The production area of Champagne is an area of more than 30,000 hectares, is located 170 kilometres east of Paris and is divided into several areas, of which the main ones, from north to south, are the Montagne de Reims, the Vallée de the Marne, the Côte des Blancs, the Côte des Bar (Aube). Within these areas there are 17 Villages classified as Grand Cru and 44 as Premier Cru. The altitude can reach a maximum of 250/300 metres