Plus sign for prices and exports, thumbs down for stocks: first rebound tests for Italian wine, after more than a year in strong tension. “The market dynamics seem to go in the expected and desired direction, the fact remains that companies, in order to recover from the 3 billion euro lost in 2020 and from about 500 million euro of problem loans, must be accompanied in this first phase by instruments adequate fiscal and financial requirements that we await in the upcoming Dl Sostegni bis », explains Paolo Castelletti, general secretary of the Italian Wines Union. From his point of view “the evolution of the market will go hand in hand with openings and the sector today needs promotion and liquidity, not to destroy its own product”.
According to the UIV Observatory, stocks fell considerably at 30 April, with stocks in the cellar that, despite a richer harvest (+ 3.2%), are getting closer and closer to the quantities of the same period of 2020, at + 1.5% (the last month they were at + 3.6%), with PDO wines even at -0.6% (white at -1.8%).
On the export front (customs source, ed.), With the first reopenings the loss in value of the previous months in the USA is attenuated – from minus 22% in January, to minus 15% in February to minus -9.7% in March -, which was mainly due to the rush to stocks at the beginning of 2020 in view of the carousel of additional duties and Italian sparkling wines are restarting in the first importing country (+ 11%). The performance in the quarter was good in China, where a market chasm opened for super-duties imposed on Australia: to take advantage, France with a surge to + 47.7% and Italy, which touches an increase 17%. Finally, prices are on the rise, also due to the frosts, which jump to + 20% for whites, with a bullish psychological spiral almost everywhere.
According to the president Ernesto Abbona “at this moment we need tools to secure financial security for thousands of wine companies, at the same time we will also need a more flexible promotion towards third countries to intercept the rebound we expect. The sector must restart from these 2 cornerstones, while we think that distillation is not suitable for this particular moment ».
The numbers of consortia and companies listed on the stock exchange seem to justify this interpretation. As of April 30, 2021, Chianti wine sales have marked a + 11% compared to the same period last year. And the positive result also remains when comparing the data with the pre-Covid period: compared to the first quarter of 2019, from January to April 2021, the Consortium recorded a + 9%. The Consorzio del Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, presenting the 2020 vintage – it will be five-star – took stock of last year’s trend where 70% of the companies of the denomination invested in promotion, technology and sustainability. For Andrea Rossi, president of the Consortium: «Covid does not stop the development of the denomination that launched the process for the birth of a third type of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano,“ Pievi ”». And in the first 4 months of 2021 the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano market registered a + 45%.
Meanwhile, the green light has come in Piedmont to modify the specification of Freisa, “an ancient and noble Piedmontese vine and now a new horizon of its enhancement is opening up”, explains Filippo Mobrici, President of the Consorzio Barbera d’Asti and Vini del Monferrato. And he adds: “The changes, which will already affect the bottles of the 2021 harvest, can be summarized in two points: simplification and communication”. In Emilia Romagna, on the other hand, while Caviro announces the launch of Romagna Doc Trebbiano Vigneti Romio, a new reference from the homonymous collection “designed to celebrate the Romagna wine heritage through the most characteristic DOC wines of the territory”, the Consortium that brings together the various types di Lambruschi Doc, has launched a series of online tastings – in Tokyo, Huston, Denver, Portland and Seattle – to present all the colors of its wine led by the producers of the new Lambrusco Generation. From Veneto, on the other hand, Albino Armani – Viticoltori dal 1607 with the Prosecco Rosé Doc vintage (2020) ranked first in the Prosecco Trophy 2021 competition of Falstaff and won the silver medal at the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles 2021.