db interview: Matteo Lunelli, Ferrari
Based in the Trentino region of Italy, Ferrari is setting its sights on becoming a global household name with its traditional-method sparkling wine, president and CEO Matteo Lunelli tells Patrick Schmitt MW.
No company CEO has an easy life, but few have as much to manage as Matteo Lunelli. Not only is he the head of Tenute Lunelli – which owns estates in Tuscany and Umbria – as well as a mineral water brand named Surgiva and a grappa label called Sagnana, but he’s also the man behind Italy’s largest traditional-method sparkling wine, Ferrari, and the majority shareholder of Bisol, the respected producer of top-end Prosecco. On top of these roles, he’s also vice president of the Altagamma Foundation for luxury Italian goods such as Ferragamo and MaxMara, while for this year he’s taken up the position as president of The International Wine & Spirit Competition. But for all his weighty responsibilities, there’s only one task that seems to really tax Matteo.
His presidencies appear to be a personal pleasure; Bisol is a smooth-running business, riding on the back of the increasing popularity of Prosecco; his wine estates are proving an enjoyable diversification; and his mineral water and grappa labels are complementary operations, but it is Ferrari, the core brand of the family-owned Lunelli Group, that’s his real focus, passion, raison d’être – and challenge. Having spent a few days with him, you can quickly see how this is demonstrated. For the most part, Matteo exudes a refreshingly laid-back persona, coupled with a boyish enthusiasm for typically Italian topics of fast cars, football, and food. He also seems to shrug aside the demands of managing wineries across Italy, a range of different drinks businesses, and the time needed to preside over various organisations. But bring up the topic of Ferrari, and his manner intensifies, his eyes widen, and his perfect English quickens.
Now, it must be stated that Ferrari is a highly successful operation. It is a 4.5 million bottle-brand that is, to put it simply, Italy’s answer to Moët – not only is the fizz by far Italy’s biggest traditional-method sparkling wine, accounting for 20% of the country’s output, but it’s also the nation’s best-known: and today the toast of Juventus and the Venice Film Festival. It’s also been recognised for its quality – with Champagne authority Tom Stevenson recently naming Ferrari ‘Sparkling wine producer of the year’.
Biography: Matteo Lunelli
> Matteo Lunelli was born on
31 January, 1974, and is married
with two children.
> He is the president and CEO
of Ferrari Winery and is part
of the third generation of the
Lunelli family.
> Matteo’s grandfather, Bruno, acquired the company in 1952
from the founder, Giulio Ferrari, who established the brand in
Trento in 1902.
> Matteo is also the CEO of the Lunelli Group, an Italian beverage group which complements Ferrari with: Surgiva, a mineral water sourced from the Adamello Brenta National Park in Trentino; a grappa from Trentino called Segnana; Tenute Lunelli still wines from Trentino, Tuscany and Umbria; and Bisol, a leading producer of Prosecco Superiore di Valdobbiadene.
> Matteo is president of The International Wine & Spirit Competition for 2016.
> Matteo is vice president of the Altagamma Foundation, which unites high-end Italian companies from various sectors.
> Matteo is vice chairman of MART, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento.
> Matteo graduated with honours in economics at Bocconi University, Milan and, before joining the family business, gained international experience in financial consulting, working for five years at Goldman Sachs International in Zurich, London and New York.
Global distribution
However, Ferrari has yet to achieve truly global distribution, and its source appellation, Trentodoc, does not have a high-level of recognition beyond Italy. Sparkling wine demand may be greater than ever, but Trentodoc, the first DOC created in Italy just for traditional method-fizz, seems to be overshadowed by the success of tank-made Prosecco. And yet, Trentodoc, which is sourced from Trentino, a beautiful region in the Dolomites, and home to wonderful Chardonnay-dominant vineyards, has so much to tell wine lovers.
Matteo explains: “Trentodoc is the only sparkling wine in the world that is strictly linked to mountain viticulture – this makes us unique.” Continuing he says, recalling the origins of Ferrari which date back to 1902, “there is over a century of tradition making sparkling wine in Trentino.” So, it has a beautiful and inimitable terroir, a long history, but there’s more. “Sparkling wine is about lifestyle, and we have a concept called ‘the Italian art of living’, which means that those people who love the Italian lifestyle will appreciate the way Ferrari brings a touch of Italian living.” Switching between Ferrari and Trentodoc, it’s apparent that Matteo sees the region and brand as interdependent – and Matteo has hosted for the past five years a sort of symposium in Trento called the Ferrari Trentodoc Camp to promote both the label and its source area. This year it brought almost 60 attendees to the region from 30 countries, and included sessions on Trentodoc winemaking and viticulture, as well as comparative tastings of sparkling wines. This camp is also a vital tool in raising global awareness for his brand and region.
“Trentodoc is a denomination that we need to promote more outside Italy,” hesays. Continuing, using Ferrari as an example, he observes: “Exports are still in a minority state, and currently represent a bit less than 20% of Ferrari’s turnover. Italy is a strong market for us, and it’s still growing, but it is strategically important for us to be an international brand.” He adds: “If you want to be a high-end brand then you need to be in the top restaurants and enotecas around the world; people move around, and wine lovers are increasingly global.”
But Matteo also wants to develop the export business because that’s where the future growth will come from. “The opportunity abroad is immense”. Not only does that stem from the sheer number of consumers beyond Italy’s boundaries, but also the increasing appetite for sparkling wine. “I believe there is an interest in the market for an alternative at the high end to Champagne. People are understanding more and more that excellence in sparkling is not a monopoly of Champagne, they are looking for new bubbles; this is a great moment for Trentodoc.” Internationalising Ferrari and Trentodoc is also an emotionally charged aim for Matteo. “If the second generation of my family made Ferrari the leader in Italy, then it is for my generation to make Ferrari an international brand, and an ambassador in the Italian art of living.”
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Ferrari: A brief history
1902: Ferrari began when Giulio Ferrari decided to create a wine in Trentino capable of competing with Champagne, and became the first person to make substantial plantings of Chardonnay in Italy.
1952: As he had no children, Giulio Ferrari began looking for a successor to whom he could entrust his brand, selecting Bruno Lunelli, who owned a wine shop in Trento.
1970-2000: Bruno Lunelli passed on the business to his sons Franco, Gino and Mauro, who made Ferrari the market leader in Italy, creating new top-end expressions, such as Ferrari Rosé, Ferrari Perlé and Giulio Ferrari Riserva del Fondatore.
Today: The third generation of the Lunelli family is now running Ferrari – Marcello, Matteo, Camilla and Alessandro, with Matteo as CEO.
The future: 11 members of the Lunelli family make up the fourth generation. Matteo says: “Perhaps none of them will join the company, but I hope some of them will. Nobody has to feel it is an obligation, nor should they take it for granted – only those who have the passion and skills to add value to the company will join, and we have strict criteria.”
But will Matteo have enough wine to make Ferrari even bigger? “I hope not,” he initially jokes, adding more seriously, “Because for any great producer the demand has to be higher than production.” He continues: “We will only increase production if it’s in line with the Ferrari style, we will never grow if it means compromising the quality, and the real challenge is to find the right quality of grapes to create Ferrari – buying more tanks is not the issue.” As a result, Matteo admits he is planning on planting more vineyards, as well as finding more grape suppliers, pointing out that quality-minded growers are willing to supply Ferrari because “we can pay a premium”. At the moment, Ferrari owns 120 hectares in Trentino, and buys grapes from a network of growers that span more than 750ha. “I would love to have more land, and we are discussing the acquisition of some vineyards, but the problem is that Trentino is made up of lots of small plots, which is fine if you are grower, but complicated for us to manage, so we would only want vineyards that are close to our existing ones, or larger plots.”
Sustainable agriculture
In any case, Matteo says Ferrari’s partnership with growers is “very effective”.
“We have a team of agronomists who advise our suppliers, and teach them sustainable agriculture – all our winegrowers have to adhere to a protocol for sustainable viticulture.” He also says that Ferrari has weather stations and detailed vineyard data across Trentino, which the company uses to communicate to all its suppliers when to pick or make a treatment, either by email or text message. And Ferrari production is already rising. While he is currently selling 4.5m bottles annually, in 2016, he says he has made enough wine to make 5.6m bottles, before stressing that much of this wine won’t be seen for a long time: “Ferrari Perlé [the brand’s vintage label] won’t be on the market for six years. But it is better to be the best than the biggest.”
Aside from bringing wine professionals to Trento for a series of education masterclasses and tastings, Matteo is raising the international profile of Ferrari and Trentodoc through tourism. Already, the company has a beautiful 16th century house in the Dolomites called Villa Margon – which can be viewed by appointment – as well as a Michelin-starred restaurant called Locanda Margon, nestled within the mountains, along with a more accessible set of wine bars called Ferrari Spazio Bollicine, with one in the Dolomites, one each in Milan Malpensa and Linate airports, and one in Rome’s Fiumicino airport – and for the future, he says “Heathrow would be fantastic”. There are also branches in Madonna di Campiglio, Porto Cervo and Napoli. The Ferrari winery on the outskirts of Trento is also open for tours, although Matteo has plans to improve the experience for visitors. “Tourism is crucial and I am working with a famous Italian architect – although I can’t tell you who it is – to make the experience of visiting the Ferrari winery even more emotional,” he says, adding, “We have 20,000 people visiting the winery annually, but I think we can increase that to 50,000.”
Speaking generally about the approach to promoting Ferrari through tourism, he says: “Having places like our Ferrari bars where people can taste all our wines by the glass is a very powerful marketing tool, but the best way for us to communicate about Ferrari and Trentino is to have people come and visit us – that’s the purpose of the Trentodoc Camp, or Locanda and Villa Margon, and our winery tour. Our vineyards are beautiful, in the middle of the mountains, we have a Michelin-starred restaurant, and Villa Margon is magic – you can really feel the Italian art of living there – and the experience for tourists will get better and better as we are putting in place a team for arranging tours.” Wonderful though it sounds, Matteo’s vision for Ferrari must require a high level of investment for a company, which he says is 100% family-owned – save for the 20% shareholding retained by the Bisol family in the Prosecco business acquired by the Lunelli Group in 2014 (starting with a 50% stake). Is this a risk, and does he see a threat to his growth plans? Interestingly, Matteo doesn’t select any external factors as potential setbacks, but only those that could be laid at his family’s door.
“I don’t see any other threat than us not believing in it enough. It will take time, when you want to position a high-end brand you need to take time, but with a high-end brand it is not about giving discounts to achieve your aims, it is about bringing emotion, you need to believe in it.” To sum up, and emphasise his conviction that Ferrari and Trentodoc will have a major presence in the global market for traditional-method sparkling wine, he repeats: “So the only threat is us not believing enough in what we do.” In other words, you can count on seeing a lot more of Ferrari in key wine-importing nations in the near future. And, if anyone asks you about the connection with the carmaker, there isn’t one. Matteo, who drives a Porsche and sponsors Maserati events, points out that not only was the Ferrari auto brand founded almost 40 years after the sparkling wine producer, but the car manufacturer takes the feminine article, and his Trentodoc is masculine – so that makes the fizz Il Ferrari, not La Ferrari.
