If Italian wine supports the great national sport, and sport narrates wine to the world

Wine, an Italian excellence recognized globally, just like all made in Italy agri-food products, is supporting sport, a universal language which reaches people all over the world. Sport offers enormous visibility which helps tell the story of wine not only to food lovers, but also to a wider audience, along with the entire tangible and intangible heritage which includes lifestyle and products, which is “Italian cooking”, recently recognized as Unesco Intangible Cultural Heritage. This virtuous circle, summarized today at the Triennale by Minister of Agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida, has been in motion for some time and found extraordinary visibility and concrete expression during the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, which will conclude on Sunday, February 22nd (followed by the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games, from March 6th to 15th). Evidence of this includes, among other things, the boom on social media of posts shared by athletes from around the world about Italian food while staying in the Olympic village. This success is also, and above all, the result of targeted investments and initiatives. One example is the significant investment (8 million euros), the largest ever by the Prosecco DOC Consortium, the official sparkling wine of the Games. Additional stages for Italian wine were also seized, such as the selection of 26 great and symbolic Italian labels featured at the various “Casa Italia” venues (in Milan, Cortina, and Livigno), chosen for Coni by the LT Wine & Food Advisory team led by Lorenzo Tersi.
During his remarks today at Casa Italia at the Triennale in Milan, the Minister emphasized how the Italian Olympics have generated “admiration from around the world for Italy ability to promote our model. I also believe that the organization of these spaces shows how various aspects of Italian quality, art, good food, and of course wine, which has been part of our diet for centuries, can be brought together. Wine contributes to well-being, even if some have misinterpreted one of its components, alcohol, which, taken on its own, can indeed be an issue, but in a product like wine plays only a very partial role”.
“The occasion of today - event which included a panel discussion titled “Il vino italiano fa squadra con spirito olimpico”, - “Italian wine teams up with the Olympic spirit”, featuring producers such as Francesco Cambria (Cottanera), Antonio Capaldo (Tenute Capaldo), Roberta Ceretto (Ceretto), Roberta Corrà (Gruppo Italiano Vini), Marcello Lunelli (Tenute Lunelli), Renzo Rosso (Diesel Farm), Giovanni Lai (Cesari), Amedeo Moretti (Tenuta Setteponti), Luca Rigotti (Mezzacorona), and Federico Veronesi (Oniwines), as well as representatives of trade fairs and institutions such as Giovanni Malagò, former Coni president and president of the Milano-Cortina Foundation, Federico Bricolo, president of VeronaFiere, and Matteo Zoppas, president of the Italian Trade Agency (Ita), together with two Olympic champions, Valentina Rodini and Alice Bellandi - is important, just like international fairs such as Vinitaly and Wine Paris. And just as our athletes are achieving record medal counts in the Winter Games, wine too has earned many distinctions. Last year, exports surpassed 8 billion euros, and we will confirm a similar figure this year (Istat data updated to November indicate a -3.6% decrease in value, ed). Some markets are struggling slightly this year, but over a two-year period, particularly in the United States, we are seeing significant growth, considering that last year increases were anomalous yet positive, partly driven by large wine stockpiling in anticipation of tariff changes, which did occur and were not appreciated by us. There is, however, a positive horizon concerning international agreements. Consider, for example, new South American markets through Mercosur, which open the door to European wine, and therefore to Italy, Europe largest producer, offering remarkable growth potential. Sector entrepreneurs tell me that Brazil is already showing much higher demand than in previous years, which will impact our exports in the coming year. We also have an agreement with India, an extraordinarily important market, which will cut wine tariffs in half. They currently stand at 150%, but will begin to fall, halved in the first year, and eventually reaching 20% in 7 years, creating very significant expansion opportunities that our entrepreneurs will certainly seize”.
These opportunities, recalls Minister Lollobrigida, are being supported by the Government and institutions through improved access to and use of Ocm Promotion funds, over 1 billion euros invested in the sector via the Nrpp, and an additional 100 million euros allocated to Ita activities, much of which will be dedicated specifically to wine promotion.
“In recent years we have also worked to demonstrate that wine is an essential element of our cuisine. As you know, on December 10th, in New Delhi we achieved a very important milestone: Italian cuisine became the first cuisine in the world to be recognized as Unesco Intangible Heritage, and wine is fully part of it. This is a recognition of an intangible heritage, but we intend to build on it to achieve very “tangible” results in terms of economy, jobs, and prosperity for our businesses and, consequently, for our entire Nation”.
Among the signs of commitment to supporting the sector, the Minister also mentioned the institutional campaign promoting the value and culture of wine, currently airing on TV and Radio Rai, with one spot broadcast just before the second run of the women Giant Slalom, won by Federica Brignone, watched by over 4.5 million viewers (30% share). This campaign - Lollobrigida still said - promotes wine from all its perspectives: certainly as a food product, but also in relation to environmental protection and the quality of human relationships nurtured by sharing a good glass, always with responsibility.
I want to conclude with this initiative (which I truly appreciate), because linking wine and sport is possible, as I have said before: most sporting events end with a celebratory toast, symbolizing the closeness of these two worlds. My encouragement to wine enterprises is to support sports activities even more. As a Ministry, we have chosen to help sports federations by involving our champions, from rugby to volleyball, passing through swimming, football, judo, and many other activities... to support our sports and clearly show how the two elements Hippocrates identified for living well and longer, good food and nutrition, which I firmly believe includes wine, and physical movement and sports, remain the best way to achieve a very high quality of life”.