Italian Pinot Grigio is growing all over the world, improving its position, above all in the US & UK

Pinot Grigio is one of the most successful Italian wines, especially in the United States. Merit goes to a leader company and forerunner of this typology, such as Santa Margherita, number 1 on the Pinot Grigio market. It produces the denomination Val d'Adige DOC. Furthermore, today Italy is becoming the world leader of the typology, mainly due to and thanks to the constant growth of Pinot Grigio throughout the Triveneto area where it is produced. In 2021, the bottled Pinot Grigio denomination grew +6%, to 2.4 million hectoliters. The Consorzio DOC delle Venezie has communicated these numbers based on data from the inspection organizations. The Consortium bottled 1.8 million hectoliters (it is the number two PDO in Italy in volume), which represents 77.4% of bottled Pinot Grigio in the Triveneto area.
“It is the most extensive Denomination at the National level, counting almost 27.000 hectares of vineyards, of which 14.000 are DOC delle Venezie. It closed 2021 at +5.11% bottled (+89,517 hectoliters), about 12 million 0.75 liter bottles more than in 2020, and a total of almost 229 million government seals distributed by the Triveneta Certificazioni (15 million more than the previous year). Today, it is a guarantee of stability in the Northeast, being called upon to manage its own quantities plus those reclassified by other territorial DOCs (we are talking about an additional 400.000 hectoliters between Pinot Grigio and Bianco DOC delle Venezie)”, explained a note.
“We guarantee an important stability in the Triveneto Denomination System of the Pinot Grigio production”, said Albino Armani, president of the Protection Consortium. “Our DOC represents beneficial support in terms of value, international positioning and quality for all the companies and producers, because it guarantees traceability and certification. In a certain sense, our role is an “umbrella Denomination”, covering the entire Pinot Grigio production chain in the Northeast. In addition to an open dialogue amongst all the players - supported by the recent recognition of validity for all protection and representation - we are committed to working together towards a broad production planning policy, in the interest of producers who must get maximum recognition on the market from the Denomination of Origin they choose to rely on”.
Since 2020, interactively working has led to sharing management, thanks to widely applied measures, such as administrative storage (repeated also in 2021). This has been followed by more and more Denominations choosing to share the management path through blocking planting, as the Garda, Grave, Friuli Denominations have recently done, and previously those of Valdadige, Trentino, Vicenza, Venice and Arcole as well. Moreover, this year, the DOC delle Venezie and other corresponding ones have been called to meet, discuss and evaluate an additional production containment policy, to again work in a coordinated and interrelated way.
The dynamism of Italian and foreign bottlers deserve special merit for the positive outcomes over the past few months. There has been an ever-increasing trend compared to previous years’ seasonal averages, which the Consortium that believes in the high quality standards of the Denomination has also emphasized. And, they have contributed significantly to growth in terms of both bottling and value.
“The support of cross-border partners is therefore fundamental. First of all Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, in that order - bottlers to whom the DOC delivered 198.795 hectoliters over the last year (+ 3.11% compared to 2020) and the big foreign buyers who, “even considering the increase in the economic value of Pinot Grigio delle Venezie (market list data from the Chambers of Commerce in hand, starting from June and up until December 2021, registered about 30% increase) are continuing to work on our Denomination ”, added Armani.
“In the United States, trends are certainly rewarding the Pinot Grigio categories (from all over the world), Premium, Super and Ultra Premium and Luxury. Growth rates range from +2 to + 7%, to the disadvantage of the non-premium popular priced offer”, underlined the Master of Wine, Nicholas Paris, of the Wine & Spirits Education direction for the colossal E. & J. Gallo Winery, “which instead observed a significant decline. Specifically, it is our premium entry-level Italian Pinot Gris, such as “Ecco Domani DOC delle Venezie”. The premium and luxury ones did well, even the last two cases, which topped the general market average, at double-digit percentages.
Significant signals are also coming from the United Kingdom, the DOC’s number two reference market, as Giorgio Pizzolo, president of Enoitalia and on the Board of Directors of the Consorzio di Tutela stated, “Pinot Grigio delle Venezie has been confirmed our company’s number one still white wine sold in 2021 in the United Kingdom. Its growth trend has been positive compared to the previous year, thanks to investments the company has made in historical brands, including, “Voga Italia”, which have attracted new consumers. Restarting the on-trade channel, especially in the second half of the year, has certainly favored a turnaround towards 2020, confirming the English consumer’s increased interest for this denomination”.
“The DOC is finally starting to receive the economic and social recognition it deserves. Our Board of Directors is continuing to work towards maintaining this positive trend. And, we will work together with the other Consortiums to maintain the high level of sharing current issues and the desire of a shared future vision, paying attention to encouraging quality productions that respect the environment and are more responsive to the demands of the Global Consumer”, Nazareno Vicenzi, Technical Area Manager of the Consorzio DOC delle Venezie, concluded.