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“Radici del Sud” is an event that celebrates wines of the South of Italy. Great!

The edition of 2014, the 9th one, took place again in Carovigno, Province of Brindisi (Puglia region), greeting us for a whole week considering the busy schedule of the event organized by the staff of Nicola Campanile.

“Radici del sud” goes far beyond the competition of the wines (grouped by regions and grapes in 21 categories) because it involves foreign wine-buyers including them in the jury; yet, B2B meetings are arranged in order to facilitate the marketing of southern excellences. I am talking about 400 wines of more than 170 wineries!

So, 3 days of appointments between producers and wine-buyers have been scheduled at the beginning of the week, 3 days of tastings have been handled by 2 juries: the National one and the International jury (see the full list here); finally, on the last day, the event has been opened to public to make people try the (wine) winners and pair them to dishes prepared by excellent local chefs.

Being a member of the National jury I am able to give an accurate analysis starting from an initial simple note: “Radic del sud” has clearly stated the success of the wines of those regions: Campania, Basilicata, Puglia, Calabria and Sicily which are gaining more and more popularity.

The italian wine critic Luciano Pignataro in his speech at the conference underlined the role of the Internet which “has democratized wine criticism” that, in the past, omitted the southern regions too often. Not only, adds Pignataro, “The Internet has allowed to approach young people”.

Then my question is: is it a communication issue again? I never get tired of saying it (please read some old articles about wine mktg&communication here and here).

On the other hand the quality of these wines is undisputed, as states Hans Bijvoets, Dutch wine buyer and Italian wines expert: “The quality of these wines is more and more satisfying, I’m happy to invest in Italy”. An important tip is also the one suggested by Ole Udsen, Danish journalist and writer, Southern Italy wines expert who stated “until a few years ago French wines dominate our market in northern Europe, now is exactly the opposite, however, we are invaded by Ripasso, we need to rebalance the situation”. This view is not even far away from the thought of Vasilly Raskov Russian journalist who writes for the popular “simple wine news” magazine: “Italy has reversed its position with respect to France, reaching a considerable reputation spread throughout Russia”.

ole udsen, danish wine journalist at work

ole udsen, danish wine journalist at work

But also the italians critics are more than happy about the results of this competition: the 2 Sicilian Giacomo Manzo, winemaker (Regional Institute for Wine and Oil of Sicily), member of the national jury as well as Francesca Tamburello who contributed to the selection of the labels for Radici competition, feel both very satisfied thanks to the success of even smaller companies but that stand out for their professionalism and perseverance.

It ‘s interesting to see how, each year, the national jury and the international one award different producers and I find that a good information for producers. There are few exceptions sometimes, anyway..

Personally, I was struck by the Sicilian “Grillo” (native white grape) that -on this occasion- I had the opportunity to approach better than before; and I have been amazed by the level of “Aglianico” (native red grape from Campania region) that in some cases had a fineness comparable to the more popular red “Taurasi”. My panel has not tasted rosé wines (basing on the enormous quantity of wines submitted this year, the organization has decided to divide the wines into categories and assign them to 2 different groups) but it seems that the Calabrian ones have been great, same for “Primitivo” red native grape from Puglia.

(I will write more detailed notes about wines and wineries soon, Meanwhile, please find here the winners: http://www.radiciwines.com/index.php/2-uncategorised/456-radici-del-sud-2014-winner-wines)

the international jury

the international jury

 

 

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