Wine Idea's wine news for January 1, 2025!

1. New Year's Eve: How much can you drink without risking your license? The new Highway Code, with stricter rules on alcohol and the introduction of the alcohol lock, has affected New Year's Eve celebrations. Safe quantities depend on height, weight and gender, but moderation remains essential.

2. Bruno Paillard: Change in Champagne In an unfiltered interview, Paillard describes three key changes: the climate, which has moved the harvest from October to August, the changed aromatic profile of the grapes and a new structure of Champagne wines.

3. Giorgione: "Wine sales reduced by the new Highway Code" The famous chef laments a drastic drop in wine consumption in his restaurants, where customers are limited to one bottle for every 18 people. Sagrantino di Montefalco remains a popular choice.

4. Vinodabere Sardinia: event in Rome with 45 wineries An oenological journey among the excellences of Sardinia with over 200 wines to discover. The appointment is on January 18-19 in Rome, to savor the diversity of a unique region.

5. Most expensive wines in the world: Spain in first place, Italy on the podium The Liv-ex Power 100 ranking sees Vega Sicilia in the lead, followed by the Italians Gaja (Langhe) and Tenuta San Guido (Tuscany). The global market for fine wines is in crisis, with 83.7% of brands declining in value.

6. Young Wine Talents 2024 A focus on producers under 40 who are innovating the Italian wine scene, from family projects to emerging wineries. The next event will be Only Wine, a show dedicated to young businesses.

7. Cave Mont Blanc: bubbles from the glaciers at 2,173 meters The highest winery in Italy, on Mont Blanc, will reopen in February. The heroic viticulture of the Aosta Valley produces high-quality classic method sparkling wines, unique in their kind.

8. Metodo Classico Brugnano: the perfect toast From the 2020 harvest, two excellent sparkling wines: Brugnano Brut and Dosaggio Zero. Perfect to accompany fish and other dishes, both express the naturalness of the classic method.

9. Salvini responds to the controversy over wine consumption The Minister of Transport clarifies that the new Highway Code has not changed the permitted alcohol limits, but aims to reduce the improper use of cell phones, the main cause of accidents.

10. Thirty friends at dinner, but no one drinks for fear of fines Lucio Pistillo, president of the Antica Cantina di San Lorenzo, denounces the decline in wine consumption at social gatherings due to the more severe sanctions, asking Minister Salvini to review the rules.

11. Young people and wine: a challenge for the future Although 2024 was the year of research into strategies to bring young people closer to wine, the problem of making the drink more accessible to new generations, often distant from this culture, remains.

12. Best wine of 2024? There is no single perfect wine: what matters is who you share it with. Wine becomes a medium for bonding, laughter, and memories, making the most ordinary evenings special.

13. Wine Tastings in Siena: between myths, stars and geology Four events in January 2025 to explore wine from unique perspectives, with tastings combined with talks on literature, astronomy and geology, for a complete cultural and wine experience.

14. Wine from Italy's National Parks Labels created within protected areas tell a unique story of biodiversity and sustainability. These wines, often little known, represent an agronomic and cultural wealth.

15. Eurostat: Prosecco king of European bubbles In 2023, Italy produced 638 million liters of sparkling wine, confirming its leadership in Europe. France and Germany follow. Prosecco continues to dominate the global sparkling wine market.

16. Monks' wines in the Balkans From the vineyards of Serbian and Herzegovinian monasteries, a thousand-year-old tradition of winemaking that combines quality and history, preserved in the remote landscapes of the Balkans.

17. From the “healing qualities” of wine in the past to today A sixteenth-century treatise recounts the therapeutic virtues of wine according to the papal archiaters. From the treatment of tonsils to diuresis, wine has played a central role in ancient medicine.

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