UNESCO, THE PROSECCO HILLS OF CONEGLIANO AND VALDOBBIADENE PROPOSED FOR WORLD HERITAGE, ANNOUNCED GIANCARLO GALAN, MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE.

Giancarlo Galan, the Minister of Agriculture, has officially forwarded the request to UNESCO to include “the Prosecco hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene” in the list of proposed world heritage sites. This is the first decisive step in the formal process to include the Prosecco hills, considered unique in the world. “I think it is a good sign that one of my first administrative acts as Minister is to enhance the value of one of the most significant cultural landscapes of Europe. “It is”, said Minister Galan, “a further opportunity to show the world the beauty of an area that already has five UNESCO World Heritage Sites”. The official news came yesterday at “Vino in Villa”, in the Susegana Castle by the ministry spokesman Franco Miracco, the coordinator of the UNESCO work group, Professor Pier Luigi Petrillo and the architect Leopold Saccon, promoter of the proposal.

Focus - And Coldiretti says... 23% of exports of sparkling wines are Prosecco The passion for Prosecco has given a big push to exports of Italian sparkling wines in the world. In 2010 they scored a record increase of 23% in volume, despite the crisis. These are the results of an analysis by the Federation of Italian Farmers Coldiretti, upon the announcement of the official request by Minister of Agriculture Giancarlo Galan to include “The Prosecco hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene” in the list of proposed world heritage sites. “2009”, said Coldiretti, “was the first year of Prosecco production with a designation of origin (DOC) and designation of origin controlled and guaranteed (DOCG) of the Prosecco Conegliano Valdobbiadene and Prosecco Asolo Hills, which are proving particularly dynamic in the conquest of foreign markets, on the basis of Coldiretti analyses of the Italian Statistics Company, Istat, data referring to January 2010.

“This success,” Coldiretti continues, “is not only for European countries representing the major markets, but also for the United States where exports of Italian sparkling wines registered an increase of 24.4% in quantity for a total of 18,770 hectoliters. This means they clearly beat the French Champagnes that despite an increase of 52.1% in quantity stopped at 16,710 hectoliters in the first two months of 2010, according to the Italian Wine and Food Institute, IWFI. “Italy produces”, Coldiretti concludes, “50 million bottles of Prosecco Conegliano Valdobbiadene Doc, even though there are 160 million bottles of Prosecco (Doc and not Doc) marketed