BBR seeks to expand Italian offering

Berry Bros & Rudd hopes to boost its Italian fine wine sales to rival those of Bordeaux and Burgundy.

At its inaugural forum and tasting of Italian wine yesterday at Vintners’ Hall, the company’s Italian wine buyer, David Berry Green, talked of improving quality and growing demand.

He told the assembled audience: “The number of cases sold has quadrupled in the last nine years [at BBR]. The turnover has gone from 0.5 million cases to 1.5 million in a gradual but steady increase.”

Berry Green himself has moved to Italy to cement relationships with BBR’s suppliers and discover new ones to help expand the merchant’s offer.

The aim of the forum and tasting was to present a preview of the 2006 vintage from 20 of the merchant’s suppliers, including several new producers, and hold an informal discussion on various issues facing Italian wine today.

Berry Green and a panel of producers answered questions on topics such as: should Italy adopt the cru system in Piedmont; how climate change could be affecting Italian wine; would the introduction of an en primeur system be of any benefit, and what is the future of Italian wine?

The topics were purely theoretical but opinions were mixed and a number of points were raised both for and against the motions.

Stella di Campalto, of San Giuseppe in Montalcino, whose six-hectare estate comprises 12 different soil types, was enthusiastic about the idea of a cru system that would highlight the diversity of her land.

However, Lorenza Sebasti Pallanti of Castello di Ama felt that it would merely serve to confuse the customer faced with Italian wine labels. “We would have cru on the label that means nothing to customers,” she said.

Likewise, the idea of adopting an en primeur system was seen positively by some and a sign of the level of quality Italy’s wine would have reached.

For others it was too much of a step towards Bordeaux levels of business, sweeping away the happy ‘peasant farmer’ that still characterises large parts of the Italian wine industry.

As for the future, Pallanti said: “We are in a very difficult moment but there is a great opportunity for those of us who are concerned with soils and quality and making good wine.”

2006 as a vintage was roundly praised with Manuel Marchetti of Podere Marcarini saying: “It’s a classic year and big, but it is still a baby; it needs time.”

Rupert Millar, 18.02.2010