Prosecco DOC drives the growth of Italian denominations: 2022 turnover at 3 billion euros

Italian wine will end 2022 with a new record in exports, which are expected to exceed, for the first time, the threshold of 8 billion euros. While waiting for the official data regarding the past 12 months, definitely encouraging signals are continuing to come from the Italian Consortiums of the most important denominations, in terms of size and prestige. For instance, in red wines, Brunello di Montalcino excelled, closing 2022 at +18% in value, but Chianti Classico is also doing very well and registered +17% growth in turnover, while quotations of the Barolo 2018 vintage are close to 950 euros per hectoliter, and Amarone della Valpolicella, has reached 360 million euros in their wine sales business.
As far as whites and bubbles are concerned, DOC delle Venezie has been confirmed the pillar of the “Pinot Grigio system”, boasting +10% growth in turnover for 2022, whereas Franciacorta has confirmed its enormous preference on the domestic market, which absorbed 88.5% of sales. However, Prosecco DOC is the real giant among sparkling wines, and more generally, in the panorama of Italian wine. Its end of the year financial report for 2022 is testimony to the excellent state of health of Veneto-Friuli bubbles. They have registered +1.8% increase in production volumes compared to 2021, and a more than proportional increase in values (+11.5%) for a total of 638.5 million bottles sold, and an estimated value of over 3 billion euros.
The export share, for the first time, has gone up to 81.2%, while domestic consumption in 2022 stood at 18.8% of total sales, confirming the leadership of the denomination on the National level. Furthermore, regarding the 2022 harvest, the signs are positive, and volumes should adequately satisfy the entire 2023, in terms of quantity and quality. On foreign markets, the news that catches the eye is the United States, which has jumped in growth +5.8%, and has also surpassed the United Kingdom in terms of volume, confirming their leadership in value.
Excluding Italy, which consumes 120 million bottles, now the leading market is the United States, counting over 134 million imported, followed by the United Kingdom, which though growing +3.5% compared to 2021, stopped at 130 million bottles, while Germany is stable in third position, growing +2.8% compared to 2021, and reaching 46 million bottles. Plus, France has confirmed its fourth position, in terms of exports, and especially significant increases: +19% in volume and +30% in value.