Rising costs and stop in sales: Chianti cuts yields by 10% for the 2023 harvest

Production costs continue to rise, and sales, based on 2022 figures, remain far below those of 2021: Chianti, the largest red denomination in the Italian wine-making and a popular icon on markets and tables all over the world, where it is synonymous with Italian wine, decided to reduce yields by 10% at the last meeting of the Consortium Vino Chianti. A signal not to be overlooked, which became necessary, according to Giovanni Busi, president of the Consortium Vino Chianti, "in order not to increase the wine accumulated in the warehouses”.
“The current picture is as follows, with a -14% decrease in sales in 2022 over 2021, so we must take appropriate countermeasures. When we look at the price-cost ratio, we see a significant imbalance due to inflation, says the president. It is true that prices have increased by 4-6% on average, but costs have increased significantly more, ranging from the cost of diesel for tractors to fertilizers. All of this represents a significant challenge for our businesses. In practice, we have not had a “normal” year since 2017: the alarm has been ringing for quite some time for the entire sector”.
“The Chianti wine sector is retracing the results of 2022 for the first 5 months of 2023, explains Busi, but the comparison is on a 2022 vintage that saw 14 million bottles lost over the year 2021. The decline in sales in 2022 is accompanied by a 20% increase in production in 2022, rekindling the increase in inventories and causing market fibrillation, causing prices to fall below production costs once more. It is pointless to deny it: there is some concern for the entire industry”.