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Issue 564 - February 14th - 18th 2022 - Expressly created for 4.348 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world |
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“Considering the very large majority that our amendments received in plenary, there is a very broad consensus on the distinction between the sacrosanct fight against alcohol abuse, and conscious and moderate consumption. This is a good result”. These are the words of Paolo De Castro, MEP and first signatory, together with Herbert Dorfmann, of the amendments approved to the Beca report on the EU Cancer Plan, which in fact “save” Italian and European wine from the possibility of seeing heavy restrictions on communication and promotion, and of including “health warnings” on labels. |
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The distinction between alcohol abuse and conscious consumption is back, the concept of “no safe level” in the consumption of wine and spirits has disappeared, and there are no “health warnings” on labels, where messages on responsible consumption could be included instead. The amendments to the Beca report on the EU Cancer Plan, tabled by the Italians Paolo De Castro and Herbert Dorfmann, were adopted by a strong majority in the Strasbourg plenary session. And so, Italian wine does not lower its guard but breathes a sigh of relief. “The moderate approach has been recognised as more appropriate”, commented the Italian wine sector organizations - Alleanza delle Cooperative Italiane, Assoenologi, Confagricoltura, Cia/Agricoltori Italiani, Copagri, Federvini, Federdoc and Unione Italiana Vini - jointly. Coldiretti, the Federazione Italiana Vignaioli Indipendenti and, at European level, Ceev - Comité Européen des Entreprises Vins also expressed their appreciation. While the undersecretary for Agricultural Policies with responsibility for wine, Centinaio, and Minister Stefano Patuanelli, speak of the victory of “common sense”. An important step forward, expected and hoped for, in a scenario that, however, does not allow us to lower our guard. Unione Italiana Vini in particular, with secretary Paolo Castelletti and vice-president Sandro Sartor, who also leads Wine in Moderation, reminds us that “it will be necessary to keep our guard up again to affirm the concept of moderation that is proper to wine, starting with the plans of the World Health Organisation (WHO) - up for vote in May - which also envisage warnings on labels, through to Nutriscore, which threatens to be proposed by the end of the year”. Federvini, in the words of its president Micaela Pallini and managing director Vittorio Cino, is on the same wavelength: “we must not lower our guard now, and we reiterate with the utmost urgency the need to quickly set up a permanent round table to discuss the international situation, involving the Ministries of Agricultural Policy, Foreign Affairs and Health, ready to carefully follow the legislative proposals that will arrive from the European Commission in the coming months” ( see all comments in detail). |
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These are excellent figures, those that tell of the state of health of Valpolicella wines, icons of one of the most important Italian wine territories, and that mark double-digit growth in all respects, compared to 2020, which had already seen no downturn in 2019. As emerged from the research, commissioned by the Consorzio dei Vini della Valpolicella, carried out by Nomisma’s Wine Monitor. 2021 marked growth, in double figures, in all its key figures. Vineyards grew slightly, now at 8,573 hectares (+2%), production increased significantly (+8.6% over 2020), but the most striking figure came from the market, with sales up +16% in value over 2020 (with +24% for Amarone and +15% for Ripasso), in line with the overall growth in bottled wine (+15.3%). |
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The positive trend in Italian wine exports continues: in the first 11 months of 2021, they exceeded 6.5 billion euros (+12.6%). The numbers published by Istat are comforting for a sector that, between the pandemic, the collapse of international tourism and the attack (momentarily avoided) by Brussels, has never had so many fronts open. Nor, at the same time, so many certainties from the markets, all growing and above the figures for the same period in 2020, from the United States to Great Britain, from China to Russia. Getting back to numbers, Switzerland imported Italian wine worth 376 million euros in the first 11 months of 2021 (+8.4% over the same period in 2020), while Austria reached 102 million euros (+4%) and France 207 million euros (+17%). Germany reached 1.038 billion euros (+6.4%) and the Netherlands 202 million euros (+14.8%). Norway declined, losing 3.5% to €110 million, while Sweden grew again to €188 million (+9.3%). Good news came from Great Britain, at €676 million (+3.3%), as well as from Russia, which reached €135 million (+19.4%). The US also performed well, at just under €1.6 billion (+19.5%) (full analysis in more detail). |
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According to the figures, Italian wine is in an enviable state of health, which, after a drop in 2020, has brought the sector back to 2019 turnover. So, everything is fine, then? Yes and no. Yes, because numbers rarely lie. No, because in addition to the boom in energy and raw material costs, at prices never seen before, hidden in the folds of spectacular growth are the difficulties faced by many small companies. Alessandro Bani, director of the Consorzio Vino Chianti, has sounded the alarm, but presumably, it applies to many others. |
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Wine in modern distribution closed 2021 with a slight drop in sales, down -2.2% to 699 million liters compared to 2020, but the trend was positive both in terms of value (+2.2%) and compared to 2019, the pre-pandemic year and therefore the true benchmark. Bubbles, on the other hand, recorded extraordinary growth of 18.1% in volume and +20.5% in value, driven by Prosecco, for an overall value of wine sales of 3 billion euros: this emerged from the webinar “Wine and Bubbles in Modern Distribution: 2021 Final Balance and Prospects for 2022”, organized by Veronafiere and Iri with three of the main Italian large-scale distribution brands (Coop, Conad and Carrefour), a step towards Vinitaly 2022 (in Verona April 10-13). |
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Italy is participating more and more in the variegated world of Champagne. As a matter of fact, the first Italian owned Maison has existed for years, namely Encry by Enrico Baldin and Nadia Nicoli, the Prosecco company Serena 1881 owns Champagne De Vilmont, and since 2020 Lallier has been under the aegis of Campari, now the first brand with a truly Italian name has arrived, namely Alberto Massucco Champagne. It is the result of the evolution of the professional life of Alberto Massucco, a Piedmont entrepreneur, importer and distributor of Champagne in Italy, and now a producer. |
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