WARNING! WARNING! ITALIAN WINE PRICES!! WARNING! WARNING!
OK, that may be a little dramatic, but this is a public service announcement: Italy (difficult to lump all of Italy into one statement as it covers such a wide variety of climates and grape varieties, but never mind!) has had a bit of a strange 2011. Quality-wise it’s great, rich full-flavoured reds and ripe, balanced whites with good acidity. The down-side, and the reason you should be bracing yourself for a nasty surprise is that the quantity wasn’t great. It was down about 8% on average and was the 3rd smallest vintage in the last 50 years. Combined with the increasing demand for Italian wines and you have an inevitable pressure on prices. Sicily was particularly badly hit (30% less than 2010), which is the source of much of the more inexpensive wines in the UK market and Martin-Bird Wines is no exception. Pinot Grigio, Prosecco and Barolo will be on the rise too... rest assured I will do all I can to keep rises as low as I can but be warned, this will hit all of the retailers. No need for mass panic, just thought I’d give you all a heads-up. Happy New Year, by the way! Matt
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