The manifesto of the “Wine Generation Forum” for the wine of tomorrow

The cohesion between producers and consortia, the revision of the Denomination system, investments in digital, e-commerce and new languages, between technology and wine, and the need to arrive at a single standard on sustainability: these are the priorities indicated by the “Millennials” at the top of Italian wineries to face and anticipate the challenges of the sector for the future, in the “Manifesto” of the “Wine Generation Forum”, presented at the Merano Wine Festival. “A manifesto that is the point of arrival of a path and the beginning of another, which will see companies in the field to face the challenges of today and tomorrow for Italian wine,” said to WineNews the vice president Agivi (Association of Young Italian Wine Entrepreneurs of the Italian Wine Union) Stefano Ricagno.

A manifesto that is divided into four major macro areas of intervention: political and regulatory, trade, sustainability and communication. In particular, on the subject of regulations, young people in the wine sector have expressed the urgent need to revise the system of Denominations of Origin in order to reduce the numbers and make more efficient the Denominations, now considered very complex and unclear, and to identify a national body that better communicates abroad the Italian wine and the pyramidal system of the Denominations themselves.

From a commercial point of view, however, the Manifesto has intervened on several fronts: from the need to create Italian marketplaces to give space to small wineries, to the need to revise the rules on deductibles at European level, aligning e-commerce with traditional trade, to the specialized training of staff in the hall to strengthen the fundamental channel Horeca.

The document also highlights some urgent issues regarding sustainability, such as the establishment of real schools for the training of technicians who provide wine assistance, but also to better communicate the importance of sustainable packaging of products and to raise awareness among citizens about the protection of the territory, just as it already happens for air and water, but above all to reach a single national standard of certification.

The last topic dealt with instead concerns communication, to be implemented through the opportunities provided by new technologies (social, apps, blogs, etc.) but without incurring in self-referentiality and incomprehensible technicalities for non-experts. Hence the importance of selecting the right means of communication and relying on professionals specialized in the different means available. Finally, the desire to link wine to the land, culture, fashion and all the excellence of Made in Italy has emerged to offer new communication opportunities to the sector, also with a view to consumer loyalty.

Key points that now the wineries, led by young producers and managers, are called to translate into concrete actions.