From great wines to premium beers and gins: Italians for Christmas toast with quality

What will Italians drink during the holidays? Beers, premium gins and vermouths, champagnes and great national reds. To each his favorite drink, but for all the “fil rouge” will be the search for quality. The photograph taken by Partesa, a company specializing in sales, distribution, consulting and training services for the horeca channel, shows us how Italians in the glass like to “pamper themselves”.
Looking at wine, bubbles are smiling, starting with Champagne, chosen not only for toast time but also throughout the meal, with labels capable of perfectly accompanying both fish dishes and stronger flavors. Also popular are the requests for Italian sparkling wines, from the big names such as Franciacorta and Trentodoc, to the growing attention to sparkling wines from Southern Italy, without ever forgetting Prosecco. Winter and large gatherings at the table favor red wines, with the great appellations, such as Barbaresco, Barolo, Brunello di Montalcino, Chianti and the productions of the South, which are experiencing a sort of renaissance. To keep an eye on, again according to Partesa, the evolution of the style of passito wines, initiated by Sauternes: no longer just “meditation wines”, as the great Luigi Veronelli liked to call them, but increasingly combinable with the gastronomic side, from cheeses to desserts.
From wine to beer, with the grand return of tapping, filling pints and mugs of Italians in their out-of-home toasts will be premium beers, starting with IPAs (India Pale Ale) and APAs (American Pale Ale) and Lagers Plus, which are performing the best in the market. As the weather gets colder, Italians are looking for more structured beers, always on the level, to be enjoyed on their own or paired with the more typical dishes of the winter season. And, in any case, in a responsible way. In fact, alongside the special beers that lead the trend of the moment, alcohol-free proposals are confirmed. When it comes to spirits, mixing and premium references remain the trends par excellence to dominate aperitifs and after dinners. Premium Gin continues to reign supreme, growing twice as fast as the “Spirits” category. Also blending supports the excellent performance of premium Vermouth, which is growing faster in the “Aperitif” category than Bitter and Vermouth. Positive trend also for requests for Agave-based spirits, despite the moment of difficult availability of this product on the market. What guides the choice among the countless labels remains above all the brand, but attention to territoriality and the ingredients used for distillation are also confirmed. And while the aperitif continues to experience a moment of interesting exploitation, with clear preferences for mixing, rum and whiskey - particularly American Bourbon and Irish Whiskey - strictly premium and with characteristics of excellence are also beginning to take hold in Italians’ after dinner.
“The difficult months of the pandemic have fueled not only the desire for conviviality, but also the culture of good drinking and responsible drinking that is driving the excellent performance of premium products”, commented Partesa CEO Massimo Reggiani, emphasizing that “the critical moment for the economy makes the choice for quality by Italians anything but a foregone conclusion, which, however, in these Holidays return to celebrate the newfound normality by recognizing all the value for the productions of excellence, which we see asserting themselves across the board in all categories and occasions of consumption”.