A third of the sparkling wine produced in Italy will go abroad for the holidays. We will uncork about 95 million bottles in Italy; the low-cost segment is growing.
Italian sparkling wines will have to wait at least 12 months to cross the psychological threshold of 1 billion bottles, but final estimates for 2023 confirm that consumption of made-in-Italy bubbly is holding steady at 936 million bottles. In line with last year’s volumes-but at +24 percent compared to 2019-purchases for the upcoming holidays are also announced, during which about 333 million tricolor caps will jump around the world, with more than 95 million bottles consumed in the Belpaese alone. The Christmas and New Year celebrations will then be joined by foreign sparklings, with about 6 million bottles.
Non-PDO sparkling wine growth
According to the usual end-of-year analysis of sparkling consumption by the Uiv-ISMEA Observatory during the holidays, consumers around the world will therefore not be willing to give up tricolor bubbles. What is changing is, as found since the beginning of the year, the choice of a product that in some cases is more affordable for the pockets of Italian and foreign consumers grappling with an expensive lifestyle that is not loosening its grip. Hence, according to elaborations on Nielsen data, ISMEA and Uiv record the increase in purchases of cheaper sparkling wines such as charmat method also varietal and vintage (+7.5 percent to 206 million bottles the estimate to the end of 2023) compared to Italian “flagship” appellations such as Prosecco (Doc, Conegliano Valdobbiadene Docg, Asolo Docg) and Asti Spumante or to classic methods (TrentoDoc, Franciacorta, Oltrepò Pavese, Alta Langa, Lessini Durello) that close the season with a 3 percent contraction (727 million bottles). With a supply basket thus adjusted thanks to theincrease in non-PDO sparkling wine production, the total tally projected by ISMEA and the Italian Wine Union (UIV) at the end of 2023 is 936 million bottles of Italian sparkling wine, in 7 out of 10 cases marketed abroad.
Under the tree, bubbly will come with a higher average price this year, with price lists up more than 5 percent due to inflation and surplus production costs. In total, Italian producers and sparkling wine companies will collect about 1 billion euros during the holidays. In the past 10 years, sales of Italian sparkling wine in the world have practically tripled, with growth in value of 351% in the U.S. (top buyers), but also in other outlet destinations such as the UK (+350%), Germany, (+42%), France (+416%) or in emerging Eastern Europe, with Poland at +983%.
Italy export to September 2023
Exports in the first 9 months of this year, compiled by the Uiv-Ismea Observatory and based on Istat data released Dec. 12, mark a 3.1 percent trend decline for sparkling wines that in value, for inflationary effects, turn positive instead. (+2,5%). At the overall level, exports as of the third quarter of 2023 stand at -0.2% in volumes, while the balance on values indicates a decrease, worsening, of 1.9 percent (5.65 billion euros).
PDOs struggled (volumes at -3.8 percent), while sales of bulk products rose (+18.9 percent volume), which, as a result of falling producer prices, lowered the average value by about 14 percent. Among the top markets, difficulties continued in the United States (volumes at -12.8 percent, values at -9.5 percent), while Germany closed the period at +12.4 percent in volumes thanks to maxi-orders of bulk wine. Stationary in the United Kingdom and slightly contracting in Switzerland. Overall, the gap between EU (volumes at +9.3 percent) and non-EU (-9.2 percent) demand widens.
The analysis of the Observatory Uiv-Ismea è been drafted at base of crosses by plus sources, a leave by Istat e from entities by certification.
