In 10 years, exploit of millennial tenants (+100%) and of the green vineyard (from 3% to 33%), with 2,873 hectares planted with organic or integrated production vines out of a total of 8,586.
On the one hand, Unesco, which may soon recognize as a world heritage site the traditional technique of setting aside grapes suitable for becoming Amarone; on the other, the numerical exploit of young wine conductors in Valpolicella. Past, present and future increasingly transiting from the under-40s at the helm of wineries in the 19 municipalities of Veneto’s most important red appellation. According to elaborations by the Consortium for the Protection of Valpolicella Wines based on data from the regional agency Avepa, which will be released at Amarone Opera Prima (Verona, Feb. 4-5), over the past 10 years the numerical figure has in fact recorded a growth of almost 100 percent of businesses under 40.
A young line that reflects a non-trivial vitality for an area that expresses about 500 million euros in ex-cellar sales value each year, almost half of which relates to the global Amarone business. “It is no coincidence,” said Consortium President Christian Marchesini, “that the strong growth of young companies is going hand in hand with the green transition of our wine, another strategic aspect that the younger generations espouse with greater conviction. It is precisely for this reason that at the end of last year we started the first Youth Group of an Italian wine consortium: it is only right that the nearly 350 under-40 companies in Valpolicella have a way to make their voices heard and, above all, to team up with a view to improving our economy.”
A “green facelift,” that of Valpolicella, which, according to Avepa data, can be seen in the incidence of organic or Sqnpi-certified (the National Integrated Production Quality System) businesses, which jumped from 3 percent to 33 percent, with today’s 2,873 hectares planted with green vines (out of a total of 8,586) compared to 212 in 2012. Last year, the Consortium notes, total bottled wine exceeded the equivalent of 67.2 million pieces (from 0.75/l). Of these, 17.2 million were Amarone alone, almost 7 percent more than the average of the past five years.
Source: Consortium for the Protection of Valpolicella Wines
More than 2,400 companies including vintners, winemakers and bottlers in a production territory that stretches across 19 municipalities in the province of Verona, from Valpolicella to the Scaliger city that holds the record for the largest urban vineyard in the Boot, 8600 hectares of vineyards and a turnover of more than 600 million euros, more than half of which refers to the performance of Amarone. This is the snapshot of the Consortium for the Protection of Valpolicella Wines, which, with more than 80 percent representation, protects and promotes the denomination in Italy and around the world.
