THE “EXTENDED” ITALIAN WINE INDUSTRY IS WORTH 47.5 MILLION EUROS, EMPLOYS 200,000 PEOPLE, AND PRODUCES 4.7 BILLION EUROS IN EARNINGS. A REPORT BY THE UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA AND THE UNIVERSITY CONSORTIUM OF INDUSTRIAL ECONOMY, SPONSORED BY FEDERVINI

The “extended” Italian wine industry is worth, in capital investment, 47.5 billion euros, it employs 200,000 people, produces 4.7 billion in earnings. These are the results of a study that extended from the sector’s vineyards to its wineries, distilleries, and liquor and vinegar producers conducted by CUEIM (University consortium of Industrial and Managerial Economy) and DEIAGRA (Department of Agrarian Engineering and Economy at the University of Bologna and Aretè srl) with the sponsorship of Federvini. Its goal was to measure the overall economic and social value of Italy’s grape growing and wine producing industry and its impact at a regional and national level.

Throughout the entire country there are 340,000 structures that employ 200,000 workers and produce over 30 million hectoliters of wine, liquor, spirits, and vinegar, generating a flow of 13.5 billion euros on the national market and 4 billion for exports.

Both research projects, to be conducted on an international level, have initially focused on Piedmont, an area identified as an “ideal laboratory” for analyzing the value of the composition of the winemaking industry. In particular, the study by the University of Bologna highlighted the contributions from the winemaking industry to the regional and national economy; 20,000 direct employees, 8% of national wine production, and 15% of distilled spirits and liquors are produced in Piedmont. The CUEIM study, instead, extended the field of investigation to the so-called “extended” industries that, apart from producers, includes suppliers of goods and services for the wine sector, and, in a larger sense, the economic activities that sustain it indirectly like tourism, eno-gastronomy, cultural heritage, tutelage of the landscape and environment: activities that, in total, make up 14% of total regional earnings.

Though the president of Federvini, Piero Mastroberardino, did emphasize the significant role of Piedmont as a test economy area for the two studies, he also noted the importance of the national character of the two studies, announcing the extension of the project to other important regions throughout Italy.

“The eno-gastronomic sector” – stated Luigi Rossi di Montelera, President of the Piedmont section of Confidustria – “offers great potential for the territory, and incentives must be given for its development, paying attention to not inflating things and always guaranteeing a high level of quality. The winemaking resources represent a basin of wealth and of giving further and essential value to the territory. With this convention we have managed to understand how to best exploit this potential and how to make it an element in continuous growth, distinction and pride for Piedmont”