270 MILLION EUROS EARNED BY CHIANTI CLASSICO IN 2007. EXPORTS GOOD WITH CONTINUED BOOM IN THE U.S. THE NOVELTIES: AN SMS THAT GIVES THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A BOTTLE OF ‘GALLO NERO’ AND INNOVATIVE TRACKING SERVICES

And the numbers are in for Chianti Classico: in 2007 it earned 270 million euros, had a stable export quota and an export boom to the U.S. where one out of three bottles are consumed. This is the data that was revealed at the recent “Chianti Classico Collection” event held in Florence. The President of the Chianti Classico Consortium, Marco Pallanti, outlined the general picture for ‘Gallo Nero’ wine: “In 2007 the use of the denomination of Chianti Classico covered over 288,000 hectoliters, an increase of 6.76% over 2006, the quantity actually produced in 2007 was 284,000 hectoliters”.
As for other export markets, Japan is doing well, registering an increase of 2%, as well as traditional markets like Germany and Britain. It is also important to remember Italy’s internal market where one out of three bottles of wine consumed are Chianti Classico, just as in the U.S.

The novelties: An SMS that gives the characteristics of a bottle of ‘Gallo Nero’ and Chianti Classico Consortium’s innovative service for tracing products via SMS or Internet
“Send me an SMS and I’ll tell you what you’re drinking”. All it takes is a simple SMS sent from one’s mobile phone and all of the characteristics can be discovered, as well as verification of the provenance of a bottle of ‘Gallo Nero’ wine. This is the novelty offered by the Chianti Classico Consortium (the first in Italy to offer such a service) that was launched within the project “Find the Bottle”, which is an effort to make it easier to trace the origins of any bottle of Chianti Classico wine.
To use the service, just send an SMS to the number (+39) 366 3333603, indicating the form of the bottle and the serial number on the Chianti Classico label and, within a few seconds, a response will arrive with a detailed explanation of the characteristics of the bottle in question. The wine, however, must be bottled after 2004.
If the message is sent from Italy, the response will be in Italian, in German if it is sent from Germany, Austria or Switzerland, and in English if sent from any other country. The project also includes a search engine that is capable of defining the characteristics of a label and can be accessed on the new Chianti Classico portal, http://www.chianticlassico.com/

All the Facts on Chianti Classico
The Chianti Classico territory extends over 70,000 hectares of land, of which, 10,000 are vineyards and 7100 are enrolled in the Chianti Classico Consortium. Total production for 2007 surpassed 280,000 hectoliters. The Consortium counts 597 members, 345 of whom are bottlers. In 2007, 288,199 hectoliters of wine carried the Chianti Classico seal, up 6.76% over the 269,939 produced in 2006, and up 12.12% compared to the 257,037 produced in 2005.