Marchese Frescobaldi: ‘Great wines have no competitors’

“There is never competition between great wines,” stated Marchese Lamberto Frescobaldi at an event he co-hosted in London at the end of June.

Marchese Lamberto Frescobaldi presented a vertical tasting of his ‘Super Tuscan’ Sangiovese-Merlot blend, Luce della Vite, at Spencer House in London on 29 June. The event was held to celebrate the appointment of Waddesdon Wine as the new UK distributor for Luce della Vite.

Speaking at a tasting at Spencer House in the capital on 29 June, the marchese had come to the UK to celebrate a distribution agreement with Waddesdon Wine, the sole UK distributor for all Rothschild family wineries including Château Mouton and Lafite Rothschild.

The new tie-up sees Waddesdon Wine take on the exclusive UK distribution the Frescobalidi Super Tuscan blend Luce della Vite, which was formerly distributed by Hallgarten Druitt.

When asked by the drinks business what he meant by the comment, the marchese said that truly fine wines are inimitable, and therefore can’t be challenged.

“There is competition between a wine that is technically well produced, but there is no competition for a wine that has karma, complexity and a link with terroir,” he began,

Continuing, comparing the presence of Luce della Vite with the first growths he would now sit alongside in the UK, he asked, “Are we in competition with a wine like Lafite? No, that is impossible.”

Concluding on the topic he said, “We could be in a restaurant with Lafite, and that’s because when someone loves wine, they won’t drink the same wine for lunch or dinner, but they will drink in the same price category, so we don’t fear competition.”

Luce della Vite is a roughly 50:50 blend of Sangiovese and Merlot from Montalcino

Meanwhile, he described sales in the UK for Luce della Vite as “very small”, admitting that the Frescobaldi Group “has not been able to spend the right amount of time on the market”.

However, he said that the group’s new distributor in the UK, Waddesdon Wine, would make a difference to the sales of the top end wine, which blends Sangiovese and Merlot from Montalcino.

“Our new partners are wine people, they know how much effort has to be put behind a great wine, and how much knowledge you need to promote a great wine,” he added.

At the moment, he told db that Luce della Vite was allocated to a range of markets on a “first come first served” basis, but he also said that as “more vineyards are getting to full maturity”, he would be able to increase production of the Super Tuscan.

“We think we can increase by 20% in the near future; now we make around 80,000 bottles and hopefully we will get to 90-95,000 bottles,” he said about the wine, which has been made every year since 1993.