Articles posted by Andrea Vincenzi

THE GRAPPA MANUFACTURER HAS PASSED AWAY AT THE AGE OF 88. HE MOVED TO ANAGNI AS A VERY YOUNG MAN AND LED THE COMPANY FOR MORE THAN HALF A CENTURY UNDER THE BANNER OF CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN THE MOST MODERN SENSE.

A Merit for Labour since 1999, Giuseppe Bonollo represented one of the historical figures of industry in the province of Frosinone. At the age of 88, he died Tuesday, June 20, in the town of Anagni, where as a very young man (23 years old) he had begun operating a factory in the Osteria della Fontana area. An Emilian by birth, he was a descendant of the historic family of distillers from Veneto who began operating in 1908 thanks to the progenitor (and his grandfather) Giuseppe, and in the 1980s he built a factory in the nearby town of Paduni, using advanced technologies and transforming the old structure into a warehouse for aging wine spirits.

Giuseppe Bonollo’s modern vision
In the early 1990s, in the Anagni-Paduni plant, Giuseppe Bonollo had two new production units built, to extract natural tartaric acid and to produce organic fertilizers as the last product of the grape processing, following a modern vision linked to the concept of circular economy. In 1998, in Cisterna di Latina, he had BonOil built, which at that time was one of the large European complexes producing and refining seed oils.

“Generous man,” as the company remembers him
“Generous man.” The company, in a note, remembers him as follows, “Anyone who had anything to do with him testifies to the charisma and great generosity of spirit that distinguished him in human and work relationships. A pillar of our Family and of the Italian distillery sector is missing.”

Distillerie Bonollo, a leading company in the sector
Distillerie Bonollo has four plants in Italy, employing about 130 people. Among the top producers of grappa in the world, the distilleries also hold one of the largest deposits of brandy. Considering alcohol and brandy, average annual volumes are close to 150,000 hectoliters per year: about 40 million bottles. In 1993, he founded the Grappa Documentation Center, named after his father Luigi, to promote the knowledge and popularization of Made in Italy spirits.

Bonollo Distilleries: a bit of history
Distillerie Bonollo was founded in 1908, in the Veneto region of Italy, by Giuseppe Bonollo, founder of the family. In 1918, the business moved to Formigine (Modena), where Luigi Bonollo, son of the founder (one of the other sons is Umberto Bonollo, also an entrepreneur in the distillates sector with an independent business in the province of Padua since 1951), began to focus on distilling Lambrusco pomace. Luigi’s six sons (Giuseppe, Melchiorre, Alberto, Luigi, Vittorio and Abramo) later took over the business. In particular, Giuseppe Bonollo, in 1958, decided to open a plant also in Anagni, in the province of Frosinone. In 1976, Distillerie Bonollo purchased and renovated the distillery in Torrita, in the province of Siena. In 1980, Giuseppe began construction of a second plant in Anagni, Paduni locality, a production facility that would become the largest in Europe. In 2007, Distillerie Bonollo entered the renewable energy sector, and after a few years set up Bonollo Energia Spa, a plant with a production capacity of 12 MWe to produce energy from biomass: about 60 percent from spent pomace supplied by the distilleries themselves. Four types of products were produced: distillates, tartaric acid, fertilizer and electricity. The fourth generation of the family now carries on a tradition with a 100-year history.

www.gamberorosso.it/notizie/e-morto-il-cavalier-giuseppe-bonollo-lutto-nel-mondo-dei-distillati/

With sincere sorrow we announce the passing of Cav. Lav. Giuseppe Bonollo, President of AssoDistil from 2000 to 2004 and the first Honorary President of our Association.

A distinctive trait of Giuseppe Bonollo’s personality was his serenity of judgment, always at the service of general interests, combined with undoubted mediation skills, qualities that earned him unanimous esteem and consideration both within AssoDistil and other trade associations and in the institutions. His own workers bear witness to the great generosity of spirit that distinguished him in his human and working relationships, and under his brilliant, wise and far-sighted leadership, Distillerie Bonollo S.p.A, won a prominent place among the leading companies in the distilling sector.

His contributions to the sector include the founding, in 1992, of the “Grappa Documentation Center”: a unique institution of its kind in Italy, which through its study and conference initiatives pursues the promotion and dissemination, in Italy and abroad, of the knowledge of our flagship distillates.

In 1999 to crown this long activity, President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi awarded him the honor of Cavaliere del Lavoro of the Italian Republic.

With his departure, the industry loses a commendable milestone. To his daughters, Mariacarla and Rosanna, goes the warmest embrace of all AssoDistil.

https://assodistil.it/ci-lascia-oggi-giuseppe-bonollo-primo-presidente-onorario-assodistil/bonollo

Although it began without the best auspices, 2022 was a record year for Distillerie Bonollo SpA. Indeed, the Formigine-based group ended the year with excellent results at the distillery level: 30.2 million euros in sales (+12 percent compared to 2021), a pretax profit of 9.8 million euros and ebitda at 4.8 million. The positive performance is also evident in terms of the consolidated Bonollo Group, with 45.5 million in sales (+50% over 2021), a pre-tax profit of 20.3 million (+75%) and ebitda at 23 million.

“Fiscal year 2022 was certainly a singular year,” CEO Andrea Bonollo told Pambianco Wine&Food, “due to the strong worldwide speculation that arose as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, particularly with regard to the dynamics of energy costs.

However, the choices made by the company some time ago to try to move as close as possible to energy independence have made an important contribution. “The investments made in the past in the production of electricity from renewable sources (biogas and biomass) allowed us to mitigate what could have been a disastrous year for energy-intensive realities such as ours, turning it instead into one of the best in the Group’s history,” Bonollo concludes.

Although we did not suffer in our budget numbers from the pandemic, as “with great flexibility we immediately turned to alcohol to sanitize raw materials and plants for distillates, turning a problem into an opportunity,” Distillerie Bonollo also reckons with complex economic dynamics. “The Horeca market has been the most damaged by the covid,” the CEO points out, “and right now, while analysts were pointing to high expectations for a full recovery in out-of-home socializing, galloping inflation is taking away purchasing power and threatening to block sales again. It is clear that distilled spirits are not a commodity.” The large-scale retail trade, on the other hand, “continues to work at full speed on first prices and own-brand products, but does not want to recognize producers for the increases they have sustained from an energy and systemic point of view, thus risking bringing the Italian production fabric to its knees.”

Nevertheless, Distillerie Bonollo-which has also differentiated by accelerating the production of alcohol for transformation into second-generation biofuel-is not losing its focus on grappa. “Certainly we will always be present in the grappa market,” the CEO clarifies, “but if there is no change of course from the demonization of the use of alcohol (which today has gone as far as warnings on the label), consumption will be destined to decline, especially in Italy. Grappa is still a little known product in the world and little exported. It will be necessary to bring other foreign consumers closer to the flagship spirit as much as possible, with a process that will inevitably be slow, making culture and communicating its value well.”

From a promotional point of view, mixology can also play its part, although for Bonollo, “grappa is a particular product, with a strong personality. Bartenders normally use more neutral and inexpensive alcoholic bases, such as vodka or gin to give the necessary alcoholic contribution to their mixes. However, grappa allows very interesting paths, with new balances of flavors, to be introduced to the increasingly demanding consumer through conscious tasting. Mixology offers great opportunities for this product, with a strong unexpressed potential, especially in foreign markets.” And the Emilia-based company has led the way, creating with Nio Cocktails a box with four ready-to-drink blends to bring new generations closer using their consumption patterns.

https://wine.pambianconews.com/2023/06/distillerie-bonollo-fatturato-2022-a-302-mln-e-12/216717

The dream really continues, as announced by AssoDistil, Grappa Ig is ready to fly overseas again.

The promotion project is restarting which over the years has welcomed the curiosity of many experts and more. Let’s talk about Hello Grappa! Project born in 2017 with a three-year duration and which, over time, has attracted various funds from the European Union. After a forced stop in 2020, the participating distilleries are now ready to restart. It will begin with a series of telematic appointments, within which there will be meetings between companies, industry experts and expert bartenders. All this while waiting for an improvement in the epidemiological framework that will allow them to fly to the United States to take part in ‘face to face’ meetings.

A project that means restart.

Hello Grappa! it not only represents the second edition of a promotion project, but also embodies a sense of restart, of rebirth. An entire sector that does not give up in the face of a difficult moment. In a market that has had to readjust quickly in the face of the health emergency, the inability to move. A sector that has completely revolutionized the methods of communication and that, despite everything, has never given up. Now is the time to start again, the American dream still continues.

Here are the distilleries that will take part in the project: Castagner Distillery; Distillerie Bonollo spa; Bonollo Umberto spa Distillery; Distillery G. Bertagnolli srl; Deta Distillery; Fratelli Caffo Distillery; Mazzetti d’Altavilla Distillery; Marzadro Distillery; Bepi Tosolini Distillery; Franciacorta Distillery and Poli Distillery.

https://assodistil.it/hello-grappa-il-sogno-continua/

According to a research by “Pambianco Strategie di Impresa”, the 2015 turnover of the top twenty Italian companies specialized in the production of grappa is equal to 223 million euros compared to 225 in 2014. If we add the grappas of the smaller companies and non-specialized companies (those belonging to companies whose main turnover is linked to other products such as Stock and Branca) the total turnover should reach € 300 million per year, with approx. 20,000,000 bottles produced.

The distillate symbol of Italy would have excellent growth prospects related to exports, but the situation of the main companies in the sector is static, conditioned by the weakness of the internal market and its still dominant weight. There is also a very fast and dispersive production structure with over 140 distilleries, characterized by small numbers, with few important groups and many micro-distillers that appear to be in difficulty towards foreign markets.

There are only about ten companies that boast a turnover of at least € 10 million:

… Distillerie Bonollo di Formigine (MO), with a turnover of 33 Mn / €,
… Bonollo Umberto di Maestrino (PD), 33 Mn / €,
… Franciacorta Distillery, 27 Mn / €,
… Francoli, 24 Mn / €,
… Male Bonaventure, 19 Mn / €,
… Marzadro, 18 Mn / €,
… Nonino, 13 Mn / €
… Berta, 12 Mn / €
… Castagner, 11 Mn / €
… Nardini, 10 Mn / €

Seen positively, the situation of grappa is improving and the product now seems ready, from a qualitative point of view, to compete abroad with its most illustrious competitors such as whiskey, cognac and rum. According to data provided by Istat and revised by Assodistil, exports in 2016 increased by 5.2% and Elvio Bonollo, president of the National Grappa Institute, highlights the progress achieved in Russia and Eastern Europe, + 35% in the last six years, become a new reference point for exports in addition to the traditional German-speaking markets, which excel in Europe.

https://www.beverfood.com/mercato-grappe-140-distillerie-300-mn-fatturato-cui-25-all-estero-wd90003/