THANKS TO THE EXTRAORDINARY PERFORMANCE OF PROSECCO, THE VENETO REGION HAS STRENGTHENED ITS LEADERSHIP IN EXPORTS AND, BY ITSELF, IS THE FOURTH LARGEST EXPORTER IN VALUE, AFTER FRANCE, ITALY AND SPAIN

Italian wine closed out 2016 on a positive note and new record: 50 million hectoliters and the export value increased by 3%. The Veneto region, due to the extraordinary performance of Prosecco, reinforced its leadership among Italian regions in exports. Taken individually, in fact, the Veneto region is fourth in the world rankings of the leading exporters for value, preceded only by France, Italy (including Veneto) and Spain, as analysis of Veneto Agriculture, the regional company in the food industry, has revealed.

Thanks to Prosecco DOC and DOCG and other denominations, including Valpolicella, Bardolino and Soave, the Veneto region's exports exceed those of entire countries such as Chile, the United States and Australia. Thirteen million quintals of grapes were harvested in 2016 (4% more than in 2015), of which 5.39 in the province of Treviso and 4.63 in Verona. Two thirds of the grapes, equal to 8.06 million quintals, will become denomination of origin (DOC and DOCG) wines, while 3.86 million will be processed into wines IGT, for a total of 10.2 million hectoliters. Prosecco DOC obviously takes the lion's share, followed by Conegliano-Valdobbiadene Prosecco, Valpolicella, Soave, Bardolino, Venezia, Bianco di Custoza, Asolo-Prosecco and Colli Berici.

The sector is not only in perfect health, but also growing. Thanks to the acquisition of planting rights from other regions the planted area has increased, which overall in the Veneto region is over 87.000 hectares, and Treviso (36.583) and Verona (28.502 ) are the leading provinces.