It's a golden moment for Italian wine and for our Prosecco… even more so. If our country took first place in the ranking of world wine producers this year, with 48,9 million hectoliters compared to the 47,4 million hectoliters produced in France and the 36,6 produced in Spain, it is plan of the appreciation of the markets that wine and especially bubbles made in Italy are enjoying success up to a few years ago absolutely unexpected with an export that now overall abundantly exceeds 5 billion euros a year.
“And it is precisely the sparkling wines – he underlines Francesco D'Agostino, creator and patron of Sparkle, the most authoritative guide in the sector – to represent the driving factor of Italian wine exports. In fact, in the first six months of 2015 there was a 24% increase in exports, with Great Britain and the United States as the main reference markets. Our bubbles are first in terms of quantity on the world market, exceeding the 1 billion euro mark for the first time”.
Standard bearer of the success of Italian bubbles in the world is undoubtedly the Prosecco di Valdobbiadene, an all-Italian wine jewel. The times seem distant when the legendary Antonio Bisol, a family of growers and producers who have had their roots in Valdobbiadene for five centuries, launched his daring battle for the affirmation of the DOCG of Prosecco di Valdobbiadene and Conegliano in an era , it was the '70s, in which it seemed pure madness just to think of producing a "made in Italy" bubbly that aspired to create a space for itself in a market dominated by the Champenoise nobility from beyond the Alps, with dizzying labels and prices.
That visionary bet carried forward in more recent years, with tenacity and audacity, by his son Gianluca Bisol, has today been widely won on world markets. Evidently visionary is in the DNA of the Bisols. It was 2006 when Gianluca Bisol, following in the footsteps of his father Antonio, prophesied new successes for Prosecco di Valdobbiadene saying he was sure that by 2020 Italian prosecco would surpass the sales of Champagne on international markets, arousing some ironic smiles in the environment. Well, we won't have to wait for that goal in fifteen years because he was doubled this year.
“Actually, I had been too cautious – comments Gianluca Bisol with unconcealed satisfaction – since we arrived at this result years ahead of my expectations. And now, based on my experiences and knowledge of international markets, this year alone I have visited over 20 countries, I up the ante and say that within the next 15 years the demand for Prosecco in the world will be around a billion bottles and therefore we will have to decide if and how to take action to be able to satisfy the request".
Thanks to an exceptional harvest, 2015 will already be a year with almost half a billion bottles: three times as many as 6 years ago. The governor of the Veneto Region rejoices Luca Zaia, an expert on the subject - he studied at the wine school of Conegliano - who linked his name, as minister, to a law which in 2009 gave a real revolution to the production of Prosecco, recalling that in 2014, 306 million Doc bottles were produced, 72 million Docg from Conegliano-Valdobbiadene, 3 million Docg from Asolo-Montello for a total of 381 million bottles.
“Currently there are about 28 thousand hectares destined for the production of Prosecco – explains Bisol – but if we were to decide to satisfy market demands in the near future we should reach 60 thousand hectares. Always without lowering the quality standard, indeed with a continuous growth of the same especially in the most suitable area, namely the high hills of Valdobbiadene. A model in this sense is the one made up of Bordeaux, with about 60 thousand hectares and a stratification in the proposal that manages to cover all the needs of the different types of consumer".
Meanwhile, Bisol is celebrating new goals: it is these days the news that the prestigious American magazine Wine Enthusiast has awarded the score of 94/100 to the "Private Cartizze Bisol", placing it at the top of international sparkling wine production after the consecration of Harrods: the department stores of British luxury who paid a highly prestigious tribute to Bisol Prosecco: in the exclusive corner dedicated to the most prestigious Champagnes in the world, one of the five columns was dedicated to its Prosecco. Results that recognize the long history of the Bisols whose fate is linked to the success of Prosecco di Valdobbiadene in the world.
In fact, Bisol Prosecco Superiore is exported to 69 countries and has now established itself as a Lifestyle Symbol, an all-Italian lifestyle that is strongly linked to the territory and that does not only concern wine, as attested by the confirmation of the Michelin star for the restaurant in Venissa, the suggestive Estate on the island of Mazzorbo, an authentic pearl of the archipelago of their native Venice, where the Bisols have rescued from oblivion a vine, Venissa, which has historical origins and which today produces a very limited number of bottles requested by connoisseurs and collectors from all over the world. the world.
Returning to Prosecco, it should be remembered that the Conegliano Valdobbiadene area includes 15 municipalities distributed in the hills at the foot of the Treviso Pre-Alps. The vineyards of the Denomination cover an area of 6.861 hectares. The cultivation area of Conegliano Valdobbiadene is entirely hilly and viticulture is almost exclusively done by hand. Suffice it to say that up to 600 hours of work per hectare of vineyard are needed here compared to 150 in the plains. At the top of the production pyramid is Cartizze, the cru of the appellation, where the homonymous wine is born. It is a high hill area between the hamlets of Santo Stefano, Saccol and San Pietro di Barbozza, in the municipality of Valdobbiadene. The Cartizze vineyards extend over just 106 hectares.
The 2015 Annual Economic Report prepared by the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Study Center and scientifically coordinated by the CIRVE of the University of Padua estimates that 5.401 employees work in the companies of the Conegliano Valdobbiadene sparkling wine district in the various phases of production, marketing and hospitality services. It is interesting to underline that as regards the cultivation of the vineyard, the number of registered winegrowers is equal to 3.243 units. A delicate task since the Conegliano Valdobbiadene cultivation area is entirely hilly and viticulture is almost exclusively done by hand. Suffice it to say that up to 600 hours of work per hectare of vineyard are needed here compared to 150 in the plains.
The production system of Conegliano Valdobbiadene has therefore invested in people by increasing the number of personnel employed at the various levels of the production chain, with an important generational turnover which sees the share of young people active in the various tasks grow. Of notable interest, however, is the fact that once again in 2014 the greatest increases in the share of young people were recorded among vineyard workers, commercial directors and entrepreneurial executives. The Report of the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Study Center highlights how the numerically important entry of young people interests three key areas.
On the one hand, entrepreneurial managers and commercial management represent key roles in the development of relations with the markets and therefore oversee very delicate tasks in a situation of accelerated dynamics of the various competitive contexts: here the open vision of young people can be invaluable. On the other hand, since the vineyard is the place where the value and distinction of the Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG is born and where the cultivation processes will require ever greater refinements to increase the oenological potential of the grapes and to respond to the challenges in terms of sustainability that the contemporary world poses to all producers, the energies and freedom from consolidated habits typical of young people are and could be precious in the future.
Finally, how can we forget the beauty of the hills of Conegliano Valdobbiadene, defined as a "cultural landscape". With the aim of protecting them, the project for recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site was launched in 2008 and today the territory has been included in the Italian Tentative List.
