Stats and trends of Italian Wine industry

"The awareness of Italian consumers on the quality/price ratio of wines has been increasing more and more in the last decade", states Giovanni Mantovani, the general director of Veronafiere. He refers to the research on sales of wine in supermarkets, that IRI has been conducting for Vinitaly during the past ten years. In 2014, the prestigious Wine & Spirits exhibition, located in Verona, will take place on the 6^th - 9^th of April.

Consumers' increased awareness has impacted wine producers with a decrease in sales volume of 6.5% in 2013. However, with the slight increase in price per litre of 10.2%, overall sales value has increased by a 3,1% with respect to 2012. "Large-scale retailers should focus more on the supply process. Firms in the large-scale retail can no longer increase investments in marketing. They need to respond quickly to the new trends of the market, such as the growing demand for biological wine" continues Mr. Mantovani. The volume of sales in supermarket of biological wine has increased with a 4% in the past year.

According to Alberto Miraglia, sales representative of Federdistribuzione at Vinitaly and marketing director at Auchan, the answer to the crisis is diversification. "We need to try and diversify more, especially within the supplier's brands. We need to create new lines of biological wine and further develop local production".

The research performed by IRI for Vinitaly provides on the one hand validating results of all along top wines, on the other hand interesting data on growing rates. Chianti, Lambrusco, Vermentino, Barbera, Bonarda, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, Nero d'Avola, Muller Thurgau, Morellino and Dolcetto rank amongst the ten most sold wines. Within the emerging wines, Pignoletto and Cannonau are surprisingly advancing at the fastest growth rate.

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