Pinot Grigio delle Venezie, an Italian wine success story looking toward the future

Thirty years ago we asked ourselves if, and how long the Pinot Grigio trend would last. Well, it is still a trend today, especially because international consumers are aficionados. Fifty percent of the world’s Pinot Grigio is Italian and 87% of that percentage is produced in North East Italy, in the province of Trento, Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia. It is produced on 27.000 hectares, which makes it the largest denomination of Italian origin by extension, and more than 10.000 families produce it. Further, production is 250 million bottles, of which 200 million are from “Delle Venezie”, which exports 96%. The strength of Pinot Grigio is that it has remained contemporary over time, resistant to changing trends and consumption. The flattering results Pinot Grigio Delle Venezie has obtained are certified by its numbers, which are +10% growth of bottled wines in September as well as 15% decrease in stock over the same period in 2022, in spite of the complicated phase wine is experiencing.
The second edition of the “Delle Venezie DOC International Forum” (the first edition was held in 2019) - the international conference organized by the Protection Consortium - held on November 4th, in Verona was the perfect occasion to discuss the state of the art and future prospects of the Triveneto DO as well as new trends and changing markets. Pinot Grigio Delle Venezie actually goes beyond the mere meaning of the variety, because it is a collective heritage of the Triveneto.
“The idea of protecting the production and the territorial culture that accompanies it through a project originated because of its heritage”, Albino Armani, president of the Consortium for the Protection of the DOC, said. He organized the project together with Bepi Catarin, who at that time was Manager of the wine sector of the Veneto Region, an enlightened and capable person. It was definitely not a simple task to achieve recognition of the “Delle Venezie” denomination, manage it for the first 7 years and achieve the numbers, demonstrating that in spite of the challenging phase, the state of health of Pinot Grigio delle Venezie is excellent.
“The “Delle Venezie” Protection Consortium”, Armani continued, “was the objective of the project. Pinot Grigio does well in this territory in relation to pedology and climate, because it is linked to culture and the conviviality of the people. It is not an easy task to create a system linking three different territories. As many as 20 DOCs have been coordinated around the control system, Triveneta Certifications, which is the cornerstone of legitimacy, control and traceability of the product. Our Pinot Grigio is number 1 in the world and the quality of our products has grown, from the simplest, to the most captivating, to icons. The sales trend through August was positive, unlike signals coming from the world market, which instead has seen consumption falling. Price stability is also reassuring, not only in production, but also on the market where ups and downs are not good. We have managed to “educate” the market to a fairly profitable price range for winemakers, but I do believe there is still room for growth”.
“Seven years ago we were called to follow a difficult path”, Francesco Liantonio, president of Triveneta Certifications, explained, “ which was to manage the traceability and control of Delle Venezie DOC wines, together with the very important job of protecting the largest denomination in Italy. It was not so much the numbers, but rather guaranteeing the quality and characteristics of this denomination’s wines, compared to the myriad of other PGI and bi-varietal Pinot Grigio wines as well as a less rigid DOC”.
Pinot Grigio Delle Venezie is well loved by international consumers, and three nouns describe its profile of popularity: freshness, lightness and versatility. “The characteristics of the wines in the three areas of the Triveneto”, Christian Scrinzi, the wine and production director of GIV (Italian Wine Group), who played an important role in the organization of the Forum, said, “ take on different nuances, but they are still within the range of recognizability, and this is very important. Then, there is the "copper" version, obtained from contact with the grape skins before fermentation, or from post-fermentative macerations. Longevity represents another facet of this wine’s identity, which is essential, so that it is enjoyable on faraway markets where it arrives up to three years after the harvest”.
Whatever the Pinot “shade of gray” is, it is crucial to realize that the production area must have its own potential productivity, not only in terms of volumes, which mistakenly (when it is very high, as in this case), could overshadow quality, but also quality wise. In other words, the producers of Pinot Grigio Delle Venezie must first of all believe in it to be able to push even more than they already have been doing on quality, to improve economic sustainability.
“There has been a lot done to create territorial cohesion and to align quality”, Armani commented, but there is still a long way to go in terms of communication, to make it clear that Pinot Grigio’s home is the Triveneto”. It is the name of the DOC that suggests to foreign consumers the geographical location of the production area - Venice is a world wide famous city, “while in Italy Pinot Grigio is not experienced as an Italian wine”, the wine critic Daniele Cernilli commented.
Pinot Grigio has French origins. “After its ancestors spread out from Velia - on the coasts of present-day Campania, but at that time part of Lucania - to Messalia (present-day Marseille)”, Riccardo Velasco, Director of Crea Viticoltura Enologia said, “Pinot Noir had originated in Burgundy, and Pinot Grigio was generated from its mutation. It has been in Italy since 1800, and the North East area has been found to be especially suited for cultivation”. In the fragmented production reality that is the Italian wine industry, the Delle Venezie DOC has represented, and continues to represent, a sort of laboratory/ workshop to be able to overcome this limitation, thanks to a cohesive supply chain. The discrepancy between the purely productive vision and the administration of the denomination, headed by the protection consortia including market activities and policies, is even more harmful when the sector is in a difficult situation linked to market as well as climate and phytopathological adversities. “Until it becomes clear and widely perceived that the denominations and producers are on the same side, and that decisions must be made to find better market positioning and have better economic performances, the supply chain administrative decisions will not be easily accepted”, Stefano Zannier, Councilor for Agri-food, Forestry and Fish Resources of Friuli Venezia Giulia, emphasized in his opening welcoming speech, “and things are even more difficult where multiple DOCs exist on the same territory, such as in the Delle Venezie denomination case”.
This is, however, only one of the sector’s difficulties in addition to regulation changes at the European level, sustainability and traceability, the wine/health relationship, and the decrease, especially among young people, as well as changes in wine consumption.
“The path to the future is sustainability, environmental protection and healthy products to understand new market and consumer trends”, Luca Rigotti, Councilor of the Delle Venezie Consortium, coordinator of the Alleanza wine sector of Cooperatives and president of the COPA COGECA wine working group, said, “we must direct the European Union's attention to sustainability, environmental as well as the other two pillars, economic and social. We are on the eve of pivotal decisions for the sector, which must become autonomous; that is, sustainable on the economic level. Pinot Grigio delle Venezie can achieve this result by making its identity even more unique and unmistakable. Overall, audacious choices must be made because we cannot rely on aid for distillation or damage from plant diseases. We need to look for other ways to manage it at the European level and we need unique interpretations of the rules”.
“We have two issues on the table regarding sustainability”, MEP Herbert Dorfmann explained, “we are proceeding with regulating and reducing the use of chemicals, taking into account, in any case, that we must produce. This year, we have seen how diseases can compromise quantities. And then, there is the topic of TEA, assisted evolution techniques, which are closely linked to sustainability, and allow us to obtain varieties equal to those cultivated, but resistant to downy mildew and powdery mildew, diseases that require multiple treatments. We are accelerating the procedures, but if we are not able to conclude by the end of this legislature, we at least hope to have a decisive opinion”.
Regarding the topic “wine and health” - affirming first and foremost that excess alcohol is harmful and there are alcoholism problems in many countries - the discussion on problems relating to cancer in the BECA (Beating Cancer) commission, focused on the distinction between abuse and drinking responsibly. “However”, Rigotti and Dorfmann both said, “we are again back at the same point due to the fact that the Health Commission presented its report on non-communicable diseases. “The real danger is the influence it will have on real things”, the South Tyrolean MEP warned, “therefore, on promotion within the wine CMO as well as transversal regulations, which would no longer be admissible for a product that is harmful. Then, there is also the labeling issue, for which we must find a reasonable and fair solution. Totally or partially de-alcoholized wine falls within the scope of well-being and health. I have always been in favor of this type of production and I believe it is nevertheless wine, like the case of non-alcoholic beer and caffeine-free coffee. I think that since Pinot Grigio is a modern wine and very appealing to the younger audience, too, partial de-alcoholization could be interesting. The European Parliament has found a reasonable solution. Although it will be a niche market, we must take into consideration that 50% of the world population does not drink alcohol for health or religious reasons, and we must not leave these spaces to others. I believe that the Government would do well to implement the European Union’s position as a National law that allows using DOC for partially alcohol-free wines but not for alcohol-free wines. Consequently, the limitations mentioned, such as being able to produce it only in the distillery, must also be eliminated, as it would take an opportunity away from the wine world in a difficult market moment”. Sandro Sartor, Councilor of the Delle Venezie Consortium, president of Wine in Moderation, vice-president of the Unione Italiana Vini (UIV) and Managing Director of Constellation Brands, shares the same line of thought. “Low and no alcohol wines represent an opportunity. Not taking this opportunity would be anti-historical”, he said, “it would mean falling behind our competitor countries, such as Spain, which is very interested in producing a lot in bulk. Now, the US market is worth a billion dollars, for these typologies and according to many, by 2030 it could quadruple. The barrier linked to changes in the organoleptic profile can be overcome thanks to new techniques now available, which are already giving excellent results. We are still not able to accurately evaluate the size of the market for no and low alcohol wines, which according to estimates stands at around 9 -10%. Growth is certain, though, because consumption is increasingly oriented towards products considered healthy and, therefore, low alcohol content”.