VITeff Veille

Italy

The Italian vineyards

792,000 ha of wine grapes in 2003, of which 264,000 ha of VQPRD and 528,000 of table wine.
Production:

• 52 million hectolitres in 2004.
• Italy produces 18 % of the wines worlwide and one-third of wines of Europe.
  
  Vine varieties:
  
• More than 300 types of different varieties. Particularity of the Italian wines: an infinity of interesting vine varieties with catchy names: spumante wines (sparkling wines) and frizzante wines (pearl wines or crackling wines).
  
  Two categories of wines: the DOC (17 % of the production) and the DOGC, more restrictive category (6 % of the production). Between the two, they account for 36 % of the vineyards.
  
  Main wine growing regions in DOC and DOCG:
  
• Venezia (17 %)
• Piedmont (16 %)
• Toscane (12 %)
• Lombardia.
  
  The DOC and DOCG wines are concentrated for 86 % in the Northern part and the Central part of Italy. The regions producing table wine are essentially Sicily and the Pouilles.
  
  Wine consumption
  
• 51 litres per year and per inhabitant.
• 57 % of the consumption is of red wines. 37 % of white wines and 5 % of rosé wines. Wine distribution remains traditional. Supermarket distribution holds 48 % of the market share.
  
  Wine exports
  Italian wines are highly competitive, well distributed worldwide. Italy exports 13 million hectolitres. The main countries for export: Germany and USA.
  
  Wine imports
  
• 986,510 hl in 2002
• Steep increase over the past few years.
• French wines are the foremost of imported wines
  
  The sparkling wine market
  
• Production: 240 to 250 million bottles per year, i.e. around 1.9 million hectolitres. On this total, 1 million hl corresponds to DOC or DOCG appellations of origin and 228,000 hl by the traditional method.
  
  
• Highly scattered manufacture (several hundreds). The 9 main manufacturers (including Martini & Rossi, Campari, Flli Gancia) account for around 42 % of the production.
  
  
• Consumption: 1.1 million hl in 2004. On the decline by 9 % as compared to 2003.
  
  Trentin Adige: This region excels in the production of excellent quelity sparkling wines which figure among the very best of Italy.
  
  Venezia: Success of the "prosecco", a honest sparkling wine. This one is not subjected to the tax levied on the other sparkling wines. The Prosecco vineyard, located bang in the middle of Venezia, produces 40 million bottles including 15 % of frizante. The production area comprises the territory of 15 villages spread over a surface area of close to 18,000 hectares.
  
  Emilie Romagne: Predominance of the "lambrusco", wine with its purplish colour, at the same time sour and slightly sweet.
  
  Piedmont: Most of the vineyards are planted with "moscato". This is the fiefdom of the Asti Spumante.
  
  Lombardia: The land of the Franciacorta (Brescia region): a high quality sparkling wine made according to the traditional method. 90 producers. 319 wine growing plantations. The Franciacorta has the DOCG status and is considere to be the best crackling wine of Italy.
  
  Abruzzes: This is a region which offers a great variety of wines. The appellation Controguerra is found in red, white, novello (wine obtained by carbonic maceration), crackling and sparkling.
  
  
• Two big companies bringing within their fold close to half of the classical method market: Berlucchi (4.6 million bottles) and Ferrari (4.5 million bottles). The Italian producers of these sparkling wines developed by second fermentation have not succeeded in creating a strong image. The sole exception seems to be Franciacorta whose production amounts to 4.8 million bottles. The lion share of the production of sparkling wine is earmarked for the Italian market.
  
  
• Exports: 800,000 to 900,000 hl., essentially to Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Russia. On the decline.
  
  
• As for the imported wines, champagne witnessed a 3.6 % decline with 8,201,508 bottles in 2004. The average value of a bottle is around 18.9 euros (i.e. a 11 % hike). This partly explains the lesser performance in volume of champagne. And caution has to be exercised for 2005.
  
  
• The classical method Italian wines are progressing by 2.2 % in a general context marked by highly aggressive prices.
  
  It may be noted that three Italian wine growing regions (Chianti, Veneto, Asti) decided early 2006 to get together for developing a project "Wine Territories" in order to develop and modernise their production and for facing the globalisation of the sector. Actions of communication will be launched on an international scale. The investment would be around 50 million euros.
  
  Source for champagne: CIVC - Newsletter - First quarter 2005./ E Letter Vinimarket 21/4/2005 + Economic Mission Milan 02-06