ITALY BREAKS RECORD AS IT SURPASSES THE BILLION DOLLAR MARK FOR WINE EXPORTS TO THE UNITED STATES. ITALIAN WINE & FOOD INSTITUTE CELEBRATES RESULTS

It is a moment of great success for Italy, which is exporting double the amount of wines that France is, four times as much as Chilean wines, and seven times as those from Spain, though Australia is still right on its heals. And this is the first time in history that Italian wine exports to the U.S. have surpassed the billion dollar mark, with over two million hectoliters of wine, according to the president of the Italian Wine & Food Institute, Lucio Caputo.

The occasion was celebrated on January 30th at the institute’s New York offices on 42nd Street, with a brief ceremony to present a plaque that has officially nominated 2006 as the billion dollar year. During the toast with journalists to the future success of Italian wine, Lucia Caputo recalled how in 1975 (when Italy was only exporting 360,000 hectoliters of wine for a total value of less than 40 million dollars) he began the famous promotional campaign for Italian wines that, even with the countless difficulties and general disbelief, permitted the Italian wine panorama to change dramatically in the U.S., acquiring new notoriety and prestige for Italian wines. For seven years a pounding, dispersive and unprecedented campaign promoted Italian wine in every corner of the country. The results were stupefying, and succeeded in bringing Italian wine to the dinner tables of so many more American consumers.
Surpassing France, which was the dominant market of the time, Italian wine became a symbol of success by reaching, in 1983, 2.4 million hectoliters (a record that has still never been broken), and 243 million dollars (a respective increase of 562% in quantity and 582% increase in value from 1974).
Then the wine campaign was cancelled, the beautiful and functional wine bar on Park Avenue was closed, and the decline began. A decline that reached its worst point in 1991 when Italian wine exports were reduced to only 701,000 hectoliters (a decrease of 708%). But with the renewal of the promotional campaign, a slow but constant return began, arriving at the very gratifying record-breaking results of 2006.

“Italy” – concluded Caputo – “now enjoys a well-earned current success, which has made it the top supplying country to the U.S., both for value and for quantity, exporting double that of France, four times that of Chile, and seven times as much as Spain, though it continues to be closely tailed by Australia”.