Grossi aims to be Italian champion

Grossi Wines is aiming to champion small Italian producers from across the country and is not scared of ignoring price points to do so.

“Italy needs a champion,” Carlo Grossi, managing director of Grossi Wines, told the drinks business. "The average consumer view of Italy is of Pinot Grigio but there is so much more.

“The Italians are to blame,” he continued, “because they were mass producing the stuff and not exporting their best wines.”

His own portfolio focuses on small producers, “with a philosophy of making unique wines, nothing mass produced” and rarely do any of them have properties bigger than 30 hectares, although Grossi did add that it was sometimes “difficult to police as producers do sometimes tell white lies as to the size of their vineyards and production.”

‘We’re after quality, it’s not always about price but it is about wines being made properly,” he continued.

Pinot Grigio and Chianti have not been left out of the list as Grossi knows that “there are producers who make them properly” and he is keen to rescue them from their growing reputation for being “cheap and nasty”.

Despite the difficulties that are associated with taking on smaller producers, such as high costs and the problem of encouraging consumers to trade up, Grossi is convinced that an obsession with price points is unhealthy.

“I’m not afraid of price points,” he said, “the majority of our wines come into the market between £13 and £20 but we try and get the best possible price. Then again, there’s no point taking on a small farm, knocking down the price and still not selling any of their wine.

“The problem is that the UK market has no benchmark for Italian wine. They (the consumers) don’t know the costs involved for winemaking, corks, labels, everything.”

To help remedy this, and hopefully smooth the way in for his wines, Grossi is also keen to educate his clients, both current and prospective, on Italy, its regions, sub-regions and varieties.

His website focuses on each region, has information on current vintages and their aptitude for ageing, methods of vinification and tasting notes on the wines in the portfolio.

For more on Italy and Grossi Wines see the June issue of the drinks business.

Rupert Millar, 02.06.2011