Italian wine exports are changing face. Thanks to a historic overtaking at the top, which sees Prosecco as the absolute protagonist thanks to new consumption trends in combination with Cocktails. This is highlighted by the analysis of the Uiv Observatory on the latest Istat data with balance in the third quarter of this year: for the first time, the bottles of sparkling wine sent abroad (528 million) exceed those of red wines and rosés (524 million) and further extend over whites (460 million). An overtaking destined to consolidate in light of a race, that of Italian bubbles, which has seen its production quintuple in the space of 20 years and which, according to the Uiv Observatory – Ismea, is preparing to break the record quota of 1 billion bottles by the end of the year, with 355 million pieces consumed in Italy and in the world between Christmas and New Year’s Eve alone.
“Of the many goals achieved in recent years by sparkling wine,” underlines the general secretary of Unione Italiana Vini, Paolo Castelletti, “this is among the most significant. Italian Sparkling wins over foreign competitors because it is Pop and addresses transversal targets, and because in several cases it can be combined with a Cocktail trend that from the USA is now becoming global. A success of the Charmat method attributable in large part to the Prosecco galaxy and its management, for an area that despite representing only 6% of the Italian vineyard today is keeping our exports afloat”.
Prosecco-led bubbles surpass reds in Italian wine exports
Sparkling wine is therefore the absolute protagonist of the growth of Italian wine exports, which stands at almost 6 billion euros, recorded in the first nine months of this year.
Net of the double-digit increase in bubbles, in terms of volumes shipped in the period from the Italian vineyard, we would in fact go from +3.4% overall to +0.5%. The value of the category is also soaring, rising to 1.7 billion euros in the period, 29% of the total exports of the Belpaese.
According to the Uiv Observatory, Italy is therefore increasingly transforming itself into a Sparkling Wine Country, with sparkling wines already ahead of Italian whites and reds in numerous countries: not only the UK, but also France, Poland and the Czech Republic, Spain, Russia. In the United States (38% for whites, 37% for sparkling wines), the overtaking will be a done deal by the end of the year.
Again according to the analysis by Unione Italiana Vini, the most extraordinary thing – and at the same time something that should make you think – is that if you say sparkling wine, you can’t help but mention “Prosecco”. Not only because it is worth 75% of the total bubbles, but also because the 1.3 billion euros generated from January to September comes from a small plot of land: approximately 40,000 hectares adding the three denominations (Conegliano Valdobbiadene, Asolo and Prosecco Doc). 6% of the total national vineyards which in terms of value (+12%) claim 22% of the 6 billion in exports from Italy.
