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Issue 713 - December 23rd - 27th 2024 - Expressly created for 3887 wine lovers,
professionals and opinion leaders from all over the world | |
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| | | If Italian sparkling wines are the category that has kept the sector's overall accounts positive in recent years, there is no doubt that the engine that has driven growth is the “Prosecco galaxy.” And if most of it, of course, is done by Prosecco Doc (which is expected to end 2024 up 7% on 2024, at 660 million bottles), together with the historic area, that of Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Docg, with 100 million bottles a year on the market, growing a lot is also Asolo Prosecco Docg (the vineyards in the photo), which has exceeded 30 million certified bottles, explains the Consortium led by Michele Noal. | |
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| | Despite the fact that this is not one of the best historical moments as far as wine consumption in Italy is concerned, Italy’s most identifiable beverage, an expression of centuries of history, of a thousand territories, but also of innovation and modernity, continues to accompany people’s daily lives, albeit to varying and subjective degrees, and therefore with an incidence that varies according to frequency, geographic range, gender and age. Winning, however, is a much more occasional consumption than in the past. According to Istat data, analyzed by WineNews, in 2023 there are 29.4 million wine consumers in Italy, a number that remains stable on 2022 (29.3 million) and indicates how one Italian in two (50 percent), at his or her own pace, consumes wine, considering a population of 58.9 million people present in Italy as of December 31, 2023. Of the total number of consumers, 3.6% drink more than half a liter of wine a day, 25.3% indulge in one to two glasses daily, with 57.8% consuming wine more rarely, the predominant group. So about 8.5 million people (29%), in Italy, drink wine every day, whether it is half a liter or simply one-two glasses. Data showing that wine is more “rooted” in people’s lives than a popular drink like beer, which counts on an “audience” of 27.2 million consumers, of whom 2.6 million (9.5%) choose at least one “light” every day. Returning to wine, consumers are more in the North, particularly in the Northwest, so that at 14.4 million they come within a step (48.9%) of half the national total. The South reaches 8.9 million (30.3 percent), slightly surpassing Central Italy at 6.1 million consumers. Lombardy has the highest number of wine consumers, more than 5 million (17% of the total), ahead of Lazio (2.8 million or 9.7%), Veneto (2.6 million, 8.9%), Campania (2.5 million, 8.75%) and Emilia-Romagna (2.4 million, 8.39%). Piedmont and Tuscany, two of Italy’s most prestigious wine regions, stop at 2.2 million and 2 million consumers, respectively. To be considered, however, as the Crea (Council for Research in Agriculture and Analysis of Agricultural Economics) points out in its “Yearbook of Italian Agriculture” 2023, that the level of penetration differs greatly according to gender, being on average 65% for men and 45% for women. | |
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| | A divisive subject, but also an inevitable solution to look to the future, as the market testifies, so much so that “endorsements” for no-alcohol wines have been growing, following the example of countries such as France, the leading wine producer by value, where these products are already a reality. And now this is the case for Italy as well, with the signing by the Minister of Agriculture, Francesco Lollobrigida, of the decree for no-alcohol wines, which came shortly after the passage in the State-Regions Conference of the draft text regulating national provisions on the production of no-alcohol and low-alcohol wines. Among the new features is the wording “no-alcohol” on the label. “This is an important step forward for the sector, this new regulatory framework represents a solid basis for the development of no-alcohol wines,” comments Federvini. | |
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| | | In the land of Lambrusco, where the world’s leading red bubbles are born, the focus is now also on white sparkling wines with the denomination. In particular, Lambrusco di Sorbara Doc will now also be able to be white (with red grapes, but vinified in white, ed.), “an addition that represents the natural conclusion of a path started by the producers, who had already been making this type of product for several years with excellent responses from consumers and insiders”, explains the Consorzio Tutela Lambrusco. This is important news for Lambrusco di Sorbara Doc, one of the 6 Lambrusco designations, which in 2023 saw production around 3.4 million bottles, out of a total of more than 40 million bottles of Lambrusco Doc (along with Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro, Colli di Scandiano e di Canossa, Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce, Modena Doc and Reggiano Doc), protected and managed by the Consorzio Tutela Lambrusco led by Claudio Biondi, to which 100 million bottles of Emilia Igt Lambrusco are added, with production taking the export route for 60%. But this is not the only change published in the Official Gazette: Monte Barello for Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro Doc is in fact the first “tout court” sub-area in the specifications of the various Lambrusco wines. | |
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| | | Italian wine in the times of climate change: an important topic at the center of “Gradi”, the new documentary born from the collaboration between Fivi - Federazione Italiana Vignaioli Indipendenti (which groups more than 1,700 producers) and Will Media. The project, which will be online starting January 16 on Will Media’s You Tube channel, tells how Italian producers face the challenges of “climate change,” between adaptation and mitigation. An exclusive press preview of the documentary is scheduled for January 13 in Milan. | |
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| | Piedmont, with a very high quality recognized worldwide, and a great diversity of production, is one of the most important wine regions in Italy and the world. A diversity that will be told at “Grandi Langhe”, on January 27 and 28, in Turin, with more than 500 wineries from across the region. Which greets a positive and slightly growing 2024 harvest on 2023 (+5%, for more than 2.25 million hectoliters, of which 2.1 of PDO wine) and an export that holds (-0.4% in the first 9 months of 2024 on 2023, to 847.9 million euros), with the great reds that, in countertrend, grow. To highlight this, “The Wine Year in Piedmont” 2024, the annual publication edited by Vignaioli Piemontesi and Regione Piemonte, presented in recent days, in Grinzane Cavour. | |
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| | The wine market is not prosperous, consumption is declining. But by working in a forward-looking way, and diversifying the business, one can see profitability grow, even with declining sales. As did the Caviro Group, one of Italy’s largest wine cooperatives, which, against a 2023-2024 consolidated turnover of 385 million euros, down on 2022-2023, saw a 3.4% growth in Ebitda, to 34.3 million euros, and in net financial position, to 80.3 million euros (up from 74.3 last year). | |
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