Marketing Italian Wines - Here and Abroad

Stevie Kim

For producers in Italy (or just about anywhere, really), the process of going from initial planting of vineyards to harvest to finally bottling the finished wine is always a challenge. Yet the actual making of any particular wine is rather easy compared to selling it. Most producers, big or small, need help getting their products out in the marketplace and that's where Stevie Kim enters in the equation.

Kim, whose official job description is Senior Advisor to the CEO of VinItaly, is changing the way Italian producers go about getting their wines noticed. For those of you reading this that are not familiar with VinItaly, this is the annual wine fair held each year in late March or early April at the fairgrounds in Verona. More than 5000 wine producers, most of them Italian, are present pouring their wines for the trade and for a day or two, the public. It's easily Italy's biggest wine fair and it's certainly the most influential.

It's been a ritual for 45 years now and as it's grown over the years, there are some producers who will tell you that things have gotten out of hand. It's crowded, noisy and just a little chaotic, especially on the weekend when the public can enter the fair and try all the wine they want for a one-time entrance fee. Kim knows the complaints and is happy to report that changes to the schedule have been made.

The format has always been Thursday to Monday - five days - with Saturday and Sunday available to the public as well as the trade. But for the 2012 edition of the fair, the schedule has been changed from Sunday to Wednesday. The public will still have a day at the fair - this will be Sunday, the official opening day, while Monday thru Wednesday will be exclusively for the trade. 

I asked Kim if she received positive feedback on the change and how she thinks this will improve the business atmosphere for the buyer.

Kim: "We received great feedback. Of course, we had surveyed the producers as well as the attendees prior to making this decision. As you know, the Italians have been doing this for 45 years, so having to make that change was quite arduous. But I think at the end, everyone saw that the advantages were greater than the disadvantages.

"As you know, on Saturday and Sunday, it was very difficult to navigate not only the fairgrounds, but also the urban traffic control. I think this will help a great deal to facilitate more of a B2B atmosphere so that people can do more business.

"I think the focus now will not be quantity, the numbers, but the quality of the people attending the fair."

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With this change, the fair is now four days instead of five. However, she noted that there will be an opening event on Saturday that will benefit many Italian producers. 

Kim: "On Saturday, we are organizing seminars dedicated to the producers. Often we have a full program of producer seminars, but they can never attend during VinItaly because they are too busy doing business. So we have decided to dedicate a couple of specialized international focus seminars. This year will be the US market and China and we will dedicate these seminars to the producers.

"On Saturday morning, we have partnered with The Wine Spectator; they will invite top 100 Italian wine producers. There will be a grand tasting event at two moments: in the late afternoon for 500 international VIPs, while the second session will be held with the same producers, but a ticketed event for 500 consumers.

"People are very excited about it, it’s two-fold, because you will have producers that are not necessarily represented at the fair grounds because their strategy is not to participate at a big fair such VinItaly. However, they are very important producers that represent Italian wine production."

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Kim also oversees the VinItaly US tour, which just completed its 2011 stops in New York City and Washington. She did not have as many events scheduled around the world this spring and summer, as she "tried to consolidate important points in a few events." Her next event is VinItaly China, which will take place in Hong Kong from the 3rd to the 5th of November. She says this event is a "personal objective," adding, "I want to do something more structured to unite the Italian wine producers in a more sophisticated way."

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Kim realizes the vast differences between large and small Italian wine producers and wants to make sure the latter have the right tools for entering the market.

Kim: "Italian producers are divided into two main categories: the large, very structured, well-capitalized producers who have been present in the United States for a very long time. They are organized and have the resources to do their own wine promotion. On the other hand, you have the consorzie, the regions that sponsor these small producers, some of them I’m afraid to say, don’t even speak English. They come to America, participate in the grand tasting events, thinking that on those dates, they will start filling out order forms and filling containers of wine to sell in America.

"Their expectations are not represented. They first have to find the importer, for example. VinItaly is an institution that represents 4500 producers, so we have to embrace the large, well-resourced producers as well as the small ones. So what we’re trying to do with the VinItaly US tour that we’re organizing is – especially for the small producers – is to try and educate them.

"This year, we have dedicated a session to the producers before they start the walk-around tasting. We try to convey to them the ABCs of the American market."

She is also making efforts to promote the women of Italian wine. She organized an opening bell ceremony of the New York Stock Exchange this past spring that featured Marilisa Allegrini and Cristina Mariani-May of Banfi and has scheduled more events. "I'm trying to give some continuity to this."

Kim: "Now we’re asking the women to represent the Italian wine industry. As you know, Italian wine producers are very creative, but also very individualistic. So what we want to do through these women is try to create some harmonious message and give something back also to the society, which matters, for these Italian women in the wine industry. We’ve chosen the American Cancer Society, so we want to continue to work with them."

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A few final thoughts from Stevie Kim about her job:

Kim: "What I do in every market where we showcase is try and build the Italian wine education and promotion program. I'm in the market talking to the people who have a vested interest in Italian wine sales, especially the importers. I talk to importers big and small and get immediate feedback...how we did, if they thought it was useful, how we can improve it and how we can better our promotional outpouring in the name of Italian wine education and promotion in the territory."

Why I Love VinItaly

In a few days, I am off to Verona for VinItaly, the massive wine fair that takes place for five days in early April. I don't attend every year, so I greatly look forward to being there after missing last year's event.

Now I was warned before I went for the first time some seven years ago that the place is too crowded, too noisy and basically, a zoo. Well, I agree with those sentiments to a point, as it is a sea of humanity and you're always bumping into people. Also with more than 5000 producers there, how do you manage your time? It's really not easy, so you do the best you can.

If all of this sounds like a recipe for a bad time, well maybe it is to some people. But I tend to focus on the positives - how could I get through this if I didn't? To me this is an invaluable experience, so let me list the reasons I love going to VinItaly.


1) Vermentino Nero

Yes, you read that right, a Vermentino Nero! I just received a press release from Cantine Lunae of Liguria, which produced its first bottling of Vermentino Nero, made from the indigenous variety that was thought to be extinct. They will be premiering this wine at the fair, and based on this producer's superb bottlings of traditional Vermentino, I can't wait to try this wine.

It's these types of discoveries you find at the stands of so many producers at VinItaly that make this more than an exercise in sampling new releases.


2) A Viticultural Tour of Italy

This may go without saying, but this fair gives one the opportunity to take a viticultural trip throughout the Italian peninsula. While I'd love to visit wineries instead of sampling wines at a fair, let's face it, how long would it take you to travel from Valle d'Aosta to Sicily (even if the trains were on time!). You can walk from one pavilion to another in just a few minutes, try each region's wines and usually do your tasting with the winemaker or winery owner. Just to coordinate all those meetings on the road would take hours or days (not to mention the wrong turns you'd probably make if you were driving).


3) Franciacorta

One of the wines I truly love from Italy is Franciacorta, the classy sparkling wine from Lombardia. But let's face it, most of us rarely get to try too many brands as most of the area's producers don't export their wines to America. You can understand that as many of the products are in the $35-50 range (with a few special cuvées priced above $75); in reality, most consumers are not looking for Italian sparkling wines in that price range, especially given today's economic reality. I could argue that they don't know what they're missing, but that's for another post.

So I'm looking forward to tasting not only the new releases of Bellavista and Ca'Del Bosco, two remarkable producers, but also the bottlings from estates I have yet to try, such as Enrico Gatti, Ferghettina, Giuseppe Vezzoli and Camossi.



4) Seeing some dear friends

After 42 trips to Italy, I've met a lot of wonderful people and made some great friendships, from estates in Piemonte all the way to Sicily. Again, while it would take weeks to catch up with all these people, I can say hello to them over the course of a few days, taste their new wines and get an honest appraisal of what's happening on the Italian wine scene. So I can't wait to catch up with Luca Currado, Alessio and Francesca Planeta, Andrea Ferraioli and Marisa Cuomo, Pietro Ratti, Filippo Antonelli, Alberto Longo and hundreds of other friends at the fair.


5) The cutting edge

Let's face it - not only will I have the lowdown on the new 2009 whites from Fruli, Alto Adige, Campania and Liguria, but I'll also have the opportunity to get the lowdown on the new bottlings of Brunello di Montalcino (2005) as well as the newest offerings of Barbaresco (2007) and Barolo (2006). To have this opportunity at one event is priceless.


Believe me, when I return I'll have lots to write about, both on this blog as well as on my other blog, solely devoted to Italian wines, learnitalianwines.

Gems from Sicily

Vineyards at Avide Estate, Vittoria

This week I conducted a seminar on the wines of Sicily for the VinItalyUSA tour in Chicago. I’ve had the pleasure of conducting a seminar for the past five years for this event and several times it’s been about Sicily.

This is a region that has exploded in terms of quality over the past few decades. Long known as a producer of bulk wines as well as being the largest wine-producing region in the country – these two factors are tied in – the image of Sicilian wines has changed to one of a greater number of small and mid-size estates being established in growing zones around the island. Particularly important is the emphasis of vintners working with red grapes on the eastern part of the island – in fact, more than 90% of the red grapes in Sicily are planted in the four eastern provinces of Catania, Messina, Siracusa and Ragusa. Arguably the most important plantings are of Nero d’Avola in the Cerasuolo di Vittoria zone and in the far southeastern reaches of the island, near the towns of Avola (where the grape’s name originates), Gela and Noto.

We sampled eight wines during the seminar as well as dozens more in the walk around tasting held later in the day. I’d like to focus on a few of my favorites. Avide, a producer in the Cerasuolo di Vittoria district in the province of Ragusa, offered a well made bottling of Frappato under its Herea label. Frappato is one of the two varieties used in Cerasuolo di Vittoria and is not seen as a monovarietal that often. This 2008 bottling has tasty red cherry fruit, soft tannins and tart acidity. It’s a charming red meant for consumption over the next 2-3 years and would pair beautifully with chicken with a red wine sauce or arancini (rice balls); this would even be enjoyable with a slight chill.

Their 2007 Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG is a 50/50 blend of the two grapes necessary for this wine, Nero d’Avola and Frappato. When this was a DOC wine, the blend from virtually every producer was 60% Nero d’Avola and 40% Frappato, but when the wine was elevated to its DOCG status beginning with the 2005 vintage, more blending freedom was allowed. Today many producers who create a DOCG bottling (producers are allowed to produce a DOC, a DOCG or both) often go with a greater percentage of Nero d’Avola (as much as 70%) to give the wine a little more power, but I actually prefer this bottling, as it is more to the subdued, softer, less tannic style I prefer. This has aromas of fresh red cherry and red roses with an intriguing hint of china bark and there is plenty of perfectly ripe fruit along with an long, elegant finish. This is as well-crafted a Cerasuolo as I’ve had for some time. It’s absolutely delicious and I’d love to pair it with any number of dishes from couscous with vegetables, to swordfish to pasta with tuna.

Abraxas Winery, Pantelleria

From the island of Pantelleria, south of Sicily, Abraxas is a typical small estate that makes the world famous dessert wine Passito di Pantelleria. More on the later, as I want to focus on two reds this producer also bottles. The 2007 Kuddia di Moro is a 100% Nero d’Avola that has the signature marascino cherry flavors of this grape and is quite rich, yet there is a restrained quality about the wine. A few too many bottlings of Nero d’Avola focus merely on ripeness, so it is nice to see this subtle style with a distinct earthiness in the finish.

The second red, Kuddia di Ze from the 2006 vintage, was like finding a treasure map. A blend of Syrah, Grenache and Carignane, this is an old-fashioned Sicilian red with a wonderful rustic quality, very good acidity and a beautiful spiciness. I generally prefer traditional reds over the modern reds that show off oak and ripness, so this was a real treat for me and I heard so many positive comments on this wine from those who sampled it at the seminar or later at the tasting. This is a wine that screams out for food – pair it with dishes such as eggplant parmigiana, grilled sausage or pasta with fennel. How nice that a producer from Pantelleria has chosen to produce a red as wonderful and as singular as this. We need more producers who are willing to make wines that tells the story of their land instead of bottlings that are market driven.

As for the 2006 Passito di Pantelleria from Abraxas, well, the word outstanding may not do justice to this bottling! Displaying a light orange color and gorgeous aromas of dried apricot, orange peel and subtle notes of dried honey and graham crackers (!), this has terrific depth of fruit and an ultralong, lightly sweet finish with cleansing acidity and notes of orange peel. This is a classic and as rich as it is, it is quite restrained and beautifully balanced. What great complexity – this has everything you would look for in a dessert wine!

The Mille e una Notte from Donnafugata has become one of the most prestigious bottlings of Nero d’Avola from Sicily. Sporting a deep ruby red color with hints of purple, this is quite rich with sumptuous black cherry and blackberry fruit backed by very good acidity and elegant tannins. This has been one of the most consistent bottlings of this variety in Sicily and the 2005 continues that track record. The firm’s pleasant 2008 Anthilia, a dry white blended from Ansonica and Cataratto, has fresh pear fruit, good richness, a dry, tasty finish and is quite a fine value for around $16.

A few other Sicilian wines that caught my attention included three lovely bottlings of Grillo from the 2008 vintage; the Tonnino with a lovely copper color and aromas of pear and canteloupe, the Aquilae with pretty aromas of pear and creamed corn along with the Fina, which displayed interesting aromatics feauturing kiwi and lemon. These medium-bodied whites also had good texture (especially the Aquilae and Fina) and are evidence that Grillo is becoming one of Sicily’s best aromatic whites.

There’s never an end to discovering new Italian wines and producers and the vintners of Sicily are certainly doing their part to make this journey a fascinating and enjoyable one!


One last note: I would like to thank Marina Nedic and Ina Majcen of I.E.M., the management company that organizes this event as well as Paul Wagner of Balzac Communications of Napa for their help and for showing their faith in me for all these years. I couldn’t lead one of these seminars without their help, so thank you Marina, Ina and Paul and I look forward to doing this again next year!