NEWS
MY IMPORT A true Italian wine connoisseur in Dusseldorf, Michelangelo Saitta Michelangelo Saitta runs one of the best wine collections in Europe. Twenty years ago he opened Saittavini which is an enoteca and a restaurant, complete with a private dining room for patrons who wish to dine directly in the wine cellar. Over 1,000 selected bottles, with Tuscany, Piedmont, Veneto and South Tyrol as major players, as well as a valid selection of Champagne, Riesling, Burgundy and Bordeaux wines, and other international references. He directly imports many Italian cult labels.
1 How is the recovery in Germany going? We are working well, we have implemented distancing inside the venue, we are lucky because we have large terraces, business goes well, both with Saittavini and with Prinzinger, the place that my son manages and that’s even doing better. Of course, we miss the customers who used to come for their big vacation, the big hotels who sent us clientele, today they struggle with an occupancy rate of 15%. Here in Dusseldorf for example, the Grand Hyatt has laid off 130 employees out of about 200. We received great and speedy support from the government, which facilitated things a lot, they expanded our tax payment installments and granted loans to pay back taxes at really low rates that we have to repay over a period of 7 years, without paying anything in the first two years. Plus VAT was sharply slashed, on food it dropped from 19% to 5%, on wines from 19% to 16%. My fellow restaurateurs have also recovered well.
2 How is the import and sale of wines doing? What’s changed? We significantly expanded the cellar, for import we work a lot with Nino Consiglio and many important brands like Gaja, Tasca d’Almerita, Le Pupille, Conterno Fantino. I added other Monfortino labels, also Venica, and curiously on the German market Etna is still struggling, we have tried hard but drinkers here still like softer and juicier wines, a more filigree product like Etna is struggling to take off. But I remember well how years ago even here Barolo was struggling and then look what happened. In general, I increased old Bordeaux and Burgundy to have an even more international style.
3 How did you reinvent yourself during the lockdown? Is it true that in discouraging moments we always take refuge in red wine? Well, yes, we too mostly sold red wines. We got on the phone with our customers. We were closed for 11 weeks, from March 19th to May 11th, but we were also able to sell very important wines, complete verticals of Masseto from 1989 to 2016, many important wines of Germany and Austria, we had good reserves and we were lucky, playing on vintages usually not on the market. Good products always sell.
4 Future plans? We have a project that is due shortly, a new homepage just for wine sales. Then we remodeled the kitchen and added a new cellar. I’m a bit worried about the winter, but luckily we have plenty of space and we will be able to manage two serving shifts. I’m sure the wine sales will proceed very well, we have to give it our all with retail sales, provide our customers with professional service and competence, therefore exclusive products, rarities, little gems. You have to put your head, new ideas, and all your energy into it. And a little bit of good old optimism. Jermann | Loc. Ruttars | Dolegna del Collio (GO) | www.jermann.it
GAMBERO ROSSO
10
JULY-AUGUST 2020