Matteo Lunelli of Ferrari Winery announced as 2016 President of the International Wine & Spirit Competition

Matteo Lunelli, C.E.O. of Ferrari Winery and of the Lunelli Group, will be the 2016 President of the International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC). The official handover from previous President, Neil McGuigan, took place on Nov. 27th in London. Every year the President is carefully selected from all over the globe by IWSC board members and must be considered to be an influential figure in the world of wines and spirits. In the 46 years of IWSC, only two Italians, Marchese Piero Antinori and Marchese Leonardo de’ Frescobaldi, have covered this role.

Established in 1969, the International Wine & Spirit Competition was the first competition of its kind, set up to seek out, reward, and promote the world’s best wines, spirits, and liqueurs. What sets the IWSC apart is the formidable reputation of its judging process composed by Masters of Wine, buyers, sommeliers, WSET qualified educators, and respected wine journalists. IWSC receives entries from around 90 countries.

Matteo Bruno Lunelli said, “I am honored to take up this prestigious position since IWSC has a global outreach and continuously promotes the excellence of wine on the world stage. As I believe that wine is the poetry of its own land and every great wine is an expression of a unique territory, I hope to emphasize the role of the IWSC in educating the consumer in fully understanding the beauty of the diversity in the wine world.”

Allen Gibbons, Group Chief Executive of the IWSC, said: “At the IWSC’s core is the ongoing pursuit of excellence and recognition of the world’s best wines, spirits, and liqueurs. Matteo is a key figure in the wine world and a fantastic ambassador for quality and merit; we are delighted to have him as our 2016 President”.

Matteo is part of the third generation of the Lunelli family at the helm of Ferrari; his grandfather, Bruno, acquired the winery in 1952 from Giulio Ferrari, who founded it in Trento in 1902. Today they are Italy’s leading producer of luxury sparkling wines. Ferrari creates only sustainably farmed Trentodoc wines, which are bottle-fermented sparkling wines made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes grown at high altitudes in the mountains of the northern Italian region of Trentino. Matteo is willing to continuously innovate whilst respecting the century old tradition of the winery and he is a passionate ambassador of the Italian Art of Living on the global stage. This is also demonstrated by his current role as Vice President of the Altagamma Foundation, which unites high-end Italian companies from various sectors creating strong synergies between the brands that represent the best of Italy.

Matteo is C.E.O. of the Lunelli Group, an Italian beverage group which complements Ferrari with brands that share the same quest for excellence and an indissoluble link with terroir: Surgiva, the exclusive and extremely light mineral water whose source is located in the Adamello Brenta National Park in Trentino; the historic grappa Segnana; Tenute Lunelli still wines from Trentino, Tuscany, and Umbria, known for their elegance and longevity; and Bisol, a leading producer of Prosecco Superiore di Valdobbiadene.