“A RAY OF LIGHT” FOR ITALIAN WINE: AN ANALYSIS BY ANGELO GAJA, ONE OF THE MOST ENLIGHTENED ENOLOGISTS IN ITALY. “PROSPECTS FOR 2010 EXPORTS ARE OPTIMISTIC”

We gladly publish the article by Angelo Gaja, one of the most enlightened Italian enologists… “While 2009 was the down year for exports of Made in Italy products, showing a 20% decline (source: ISTAT-Italian Statistics Institute), Italian wines have instead reached the highest mark ever with an increase in volume close to 10%, despite a loss in value of 6%. Success? Absolutely, even if no one is jumping up and down: the wineries sacrificed profit by lowering prices to a zero profit and the producers, instead, agreed to sell excess wine in bulk to bottlers at sell out prices. Not to mention that the price of 2009 harvest grapes fell sharply.
The Italian wine system, however, held up well, bringing to light its values as a healthy sector, combined and linked also by a strong network of its related activities. The wine world did not fire anyone nor resort to layoffs and the usual Italian critics and antagonists did not distract it: national against International varieties; territory against anywhere; new barrels against old casks; typical regional taste against global taste. The year 2009 was certainly not a bed of roses: Italian wine entrepreneurs worked hard, doubling their efforts and tightening their belts, to finally obtain results that none of the other European competitors came close to, and first of all France.

The prospects for Italian wine exports in 2010 are bright. The weakening of the euro gives breathing room for exporting to countries outside Europe. The goal to export at least 2.5 million hectoliters more than in 2009 is within reach almost everywhere in Italy. Wine stocks are set to fall because the 2008 and 2009 productions were low. The support provided by the European Community, intended to compensate the practice of thinning (removal of the grape surplus prior to coloring, to reduce or limit the harvest), if wisely guided by the Cooperatives in South and Central Italy and performed correctly by growers, would help to maintain low domestic production and be able to recover the balance between supply and demand. Then, by the 2010 harvest there would be the prospect of a return for grape buyers and sellers that at least would even out the cost of production. Exporting, which is very good for the economy of Italy, must become an obsession for wine producers who wish to maintain healthy and competitive businesses”.