Anyone looking for a sector that has never suffered from the crisis of recent years knows they can hit the mark with aexcellence of Made in Italy: wine. The numbers can tell us the strength of this product within the agri-food sector: in Italy there are approx 380 thousand wineries which represent the total 23% of agricultural enterprises in our country. And there are many products of excellence in Italy. In fact, there are 73 DOCG types (controlled and guaranteed designation of origin), 332 DOC (controlled designation of origin) 1 types of IGT (typical geographical indication).
The opportunity to take stock of a key sector that guaranteed exports of 5 billion in 2014 is the approach of Vinitaly, the international wine exhibition now in its 49th edition, scheduled in Verona from 21 to 25 March. This year more than 4.000 exhibitors will arrive in Verona, confirming the vitality of the sector. The producers are confronted with the ambitious goal launched by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of increase exports by 50% by 2020. And it is precisely on exports and investments that we spoke with John Mantovani, general manager of Veronafiere, the company that organizes Vinitaly, the important international wine exhibition, now in its 49th edition.
In your research among the top 30 Italian producers it emerged that the turnover of the Italian wineries interviewed grew by 5% last year compared to 2013. The crisis does not seem to have affected the Italian wine sector, we are the first exporter in the world with 2 million hectoliters. Is that it?
The sector is holding up a lot because all export companies have grown. We are growing in the United States and Northern Europe. The data relating to Northern Europe is interesting and concerns the range that includes England, the Scandinavian countries and Germany. We are the top exporters in the UK, the USA and Germany. Russia is also doing well, despite the geopolitical events, while a new phase is being recorded in China because the Chinese are slowly discovering Italian wine.
Exports are certainly the driving force for the wine sector but there are also timid signs of recovery in the domestic market. Will we go back to the consumption of a few years ago?
There have been two-three years in which there has been some difficulty but in the last year there have been signs of recovery. However, I think it is difficult to go back to the consumption of a few years ago in Italy. The difficulty is not related to economic problems but is linked to a change in lifestyles, not only in Italy but also in other historically large wine-consuming countries such as France and Spain.
Moving on to the investment front, there was talk of the interest of foreign groups. Are foreign investors coming?
Yes. There is great excitement. There are some foreign subjects interested in the Italian market but at the moment there is no official news yet. That of international investments is an important topic and will be explored in the December Wine2Wine event. That will be the moment in which it will be possible to tell the first real stories of international investments, including access to the Stock Exchange because there are some companies that are evaluating this hypothesis.
At Expo 2015 a pavilion will be dedicated to wine. It is the first time in the history of the Expos held so far. Vinitaly was commissioned by the Minister of Agricultural Policies Maurizio Martina to oversee its implementation. How will the Expo pavilion “VINO – A taste of Italy” be structured?
The pavilion that we are preparing for Expo will be dedicated exclusively to Italian wine and will be half dedicated to a first approach to wine by offering an emotional experience. On the one hand, we aim to tell what wine is, starting from the grape varieties up to the denominations and we want to do so by trying to involve visitors to the pavilion through the use of four of the five senses: touch, sight, smell and hearing. The upper part of the pavilion will be dedicated to the fifth sense, taste, where you can access with an accreditation card through which you can be entitled to a maximum of six tastings of 30 centilitres.
