On Wednesday 25 January 2023, Luca Currado and Elena Penna introduced their resignation from Vietti. Fifth-generation winemaker Currado began working at his household’s former property in 1991. His spouse Penna joined just a few years later taking up accountability for gross sales and hospitality.
In July 2016, they shocked colleagues and shoppers with the sale of Vietti to American enterprise tycoon, Kyle Krause. Regardless of preliminary fears, the acquisition didn’t open the floodgates to an onslaught of outdoor funding.
Currado and Penna have all the time insisted that the intention was to not money in. Possession of the corporate included different relations who weren’t serious about persevering with the enterprise. ‘We regarded for an answer that allowed us to maintain the model intact,’ Currado informed Decanter on the time.
Currado stayed on as CEO and, till now, the couple ran the property as regular – making the wine, visiting markets world wide, and holding forth on the vineyard. Behind the scenes, there was important progress, with purchases of prime winery land in famend MGAs (Menzione Geografica Aggiuntiva) reminiscent of Roncaglie, Rabajà, Cerequio and Monvigliero. As he exits, Currado estimates Vietti’s present winery holdings at 80 hectares throughout the Langhe, Asti and Colli Tortonesi.
‘It was time to chop the umbilical wire,’ mentioned Currado, who added that he’s leaving the vineyard in ‘succesful palms’. With the sale and subsequent progress of the property, his position turned much less centered on the wines and vineyards, and extra targeting reviews and enterprise planning. ‘You realize me, I wish to get my palms soiled,’ he mentioned.
Currado and Penna’s sudden resignation got here as a lot of a shock because the preliminary sale. ‘However eventually it needed to be,’ mirrored Poderi Colla’s Tino Colla, whose brother Beppe Colla was accountable for Barolo’s first ‘cru’ bottlings together with Currado’s father, Alfredo. ‘Whereas it erodes our social material it doesn’t signify a lack of high quality,’ he continues, pointing to the well-established organisation at Vietti.
In keeping with Currado, the winemaking crew and administrative workers will keep on, and Beppe Caviola will stay as exterior consulting oenologist. Group president for Krause, Franco Denari will take over as director of the property. Whereas the couple’s resignation is efficient instantly, Currado will see the transition by means of over the subsequent three months.
‘It may very well be a blow for the vineyard as they [Currado and Penna] had been the face of Vietti,’ mentioned Piazzo Comm. Armando’s Simone Allario Piazzo, including that it’s a loss for the producers of the Langhe. ‘However they’ll nonetheless be right here.’
Certainly, now of their early 50s, the couple aren’t leaving the drinks trade: Penna will proceed to develop her eponymous model, which incorporates boutique Vermouth, London Dry Gin and Amaro; Currado in the meantime, already a guide at Tuscany’s Querciabella, plans on build up his consulting work with estates throughout Italy.
‘It’s tough to depart behind one thing you like,’ mentioned Currado. However, together with his youngsters now in college, he’s seeking to the long run. ‘Who is aware of, maybe they’ll want my assist with initiatives down the street.’
