CMO WINE STABILIZES THE MARKET, SALES ARE UP AND THIS YEAR’S HARVEST WILL BE REMEMBERED AS THE SCARCEST EVER IN ITALY. “WINE IS NO LONGER COMING OUT OF OUR EARS”: OPTIMISM FROM ANGELO GAJA

While this year’s grape harvest is turning out to be one of the most complex in the history of Italian wine, Angelo Gaja, one of the most influential entrepreneurs in the world of wine, offers us a breath of optimism, which we gladly receive and publish... “The 2011 vintage will be remembered as the most meager our country has ever produced (the Fraud Repression Service will have to be ever more vigilant in 2012). It was easy to predict even by the end of August, after twenty days of intense African heat that dried the grapes, a definite predictor of reduced yields both in the vineyards and the cellars. After just two years the CMO wine measures introduced by Brussels have greatly contributed to stabilizing the market, together with the increasing volume of sales of Italian wines on export markets: then, almost like a miracle, many wineries’ stocks have returned to normal, if not below normal levels. This triggers a new scenario for Italy, never before experienced – wine is not coming out of our ears anymore, rather many wines are running low and therefore the prices of grapes and bulk wine will increase (at last!).
For years the problem in Italy has been overproduction: part was destined for markets exploited by destruction through the distillation process and part contributed to reducing the price of grapes and bulk wine even more. In a perennially oversupplied market it was imperative to sell at any price condition, and so we became the first country in exports. But the winemakers suffered, as many were forced to sell their grapes at below cost prices and the producers had to empty their cellars to make room for the new year’s harvest. Now Italy must learn to accelerate a cycle already in place. There are Italian producers who sell their wine abroad in the most sought after range, from three to eleven euros per bottle at the winery. It is important that their numbers grow rapidly and that many Italian wineries already operating in foreign markets learn to sell better, with higher added value, creating a more qualified demand, adopting strategies and better tools to attack the most profitable price ranges. Italian wine has all potential to make it: the charm of its territories, its native varieties, history and tradition but much, much more - there is an extraordinary human capital, a large number of wine growers and producers that no other country in the world has, a treasure that deserves to be appreciated and can produce better results faster”. 

Angelo Gaja