The Garda Doc, between name appeal, lower alcohol content, price stability and wine tourism

In the first 5 months 2025, the appellation, which stretches across a hilly territory between Lombardy and Veneto, protected by mountains and overlooking Italy’s largest lake between the provinces of Brescia, Mantua and Verona, recorded a 10% increase in sales that could take it this year to more than 22 million bottles: it is Doc Garda, which has laid the foundations for the development of a more than ever necessary collaboration with various distribution channels in Italy, Germany and Great Britain, the two most important foreign markets, from “Garda Stories,” the annual event in which the Consortium shares studies, numbers and strategies on which it bases its choices for the constantly growing denomination, on stage, in recent days, at the Dogana Veneta in Lazise. A “contemporary” appellation that due to its characteristics - a very wide vocated territory on which several other appellations, even very renowned ones, insist - bases its distinctiveness mainly on Lake Garda and its tourist appeal, together with the name’s ease of pronunciation, rather than on a stringent oenological identity: an issue that could also be read as a criticality.
“Probably the growth of the Garda Doc, recognized in 1996, is not moved by the same canons as the historical appellations in which attention to the organoleptic characteristics of the wines is central and sometimes exaggerated”, stressed Paolo Fiorini, president of the Garda Doc Consortium. “Our communicative strength lies in Lake Garda. We can count from the qualitative point of view on the important influence that this 370-square-kilometer stretch of water has on the quality of the grapes, which consists of the brightness of the area and the effect of thermal flywheel, the notoriety of the geographic location and the ease of the name of the appellation, but not on the absolute recognizability of our wines, for example of one of our Chardonnays. Many consumers like the “simple approach to wine”, and in light of this consumer trend I believe that the strength of the name “Garda” can overcome this that some identify as a critical issue”.
On the other hand, the success of two other northeastern appellations - Prosecco Doc and Pinot Grigio delle Venezie - has points of contact with the “bet” won to date by the Garda Doc, albeit with due differences in numbers as well.
Historical appellations in Italy, are going through a very complicated time, and also a time of reflection. Carrying on tradition often involves legacies that prevent progress. Garda Doc has a history to write, an opportunity to exploit in the face of a regulatory framework, formulated in times different from the present, that should be rewritten at the European level to contemplate changes and new trends. If the world is changing, it is necessary to change, holding firm to historic appellations of origin and seizing the opportunities offered by new ones. Preferences are changing, and alongside “traditionalist” consumers there are others today who are distant from wine and need to be approached.
The contemporaneity of the Garda Doc can also be read in the initiation, several years ago, of an amendment to the specification for the “natural” - that is, in the vineyard - reduction of the minimum alcoholic strength of Garganega from 10.5% vol. to 9% vol. which, as Alberto Zannol of the Veneto Region’s Agri-food Directorate announced to “Garda Stories,” has received a positive assessment by the Technical Wine Committee in Rome in recent days.
Currently, Garda DOC wines are distributed mainly in the modern channel with ample potential for growth in the national horeca. “For this reason”, Fiorini continued, “we have structured a project to provide concrete tools and useful data to support producers in a conscious strategic path, capable of enhancing the peculiarities of the territory and the distinctive positioning of the Garda Doc brand, in the complex and articulated project launched in 2022, which each year delves into a different theme of the Garda Doc system. The research on the perception of the Garda Doc brand, conducted for the Consortium by “Wine Meridian” and illustrated by its director Fabio Piccoli, highlighted and confirmed the appeal of the name “Garda”, production flexibility and wine tourism potential, and as the main criticalities the communication, the limited presence in the horeca and the overlap with the denominations that insist on the same area, such as Lugana and Bardolino. He identified opportunities in international positioning, territorial storytelling, digital channel development and experiential wine tourism. “Doc Garda”, summarized Piccoli, “is considered a modern and “market-driven” example of an appellation created to enhance a strong and evocative territorial brand. Its evolutionary potential is significant, but conditioned by its young age and the need for greater awareness within the supply chain. Looking forward, it is hoped to build a “light” and inclusive interprofessional model, capable of coordinating and linking the various wine-making souls of the Garda territory under a common vision based on the sharing of values, intents and perspectives, which focuses on the interconnection between value and origin”. From the research, articulated on the qualitative and quantitative analysis conducted with the support of the Consorzio Distributori Alimentari (Cda), focused on the performance of DOC in the strategic areas of Northern Italy and on a perceptual survey conducted on a panel of experts composed of sommeliers, journalists, opinion leaders, restaurateurs and bloggers, the importance of also involving figures such as buyers to reach the final consumer also to understand what is happening in consumption emerged clearly.
“I know and love Lake Garda”, began Christoph Mack, ceo Mack & Schühle, one of the leading distributors of wines and spirits in all channels in Central Europe and beyond, which pays special attention to Italian wine, “but those who have never been there cannot be fascinated by it. New generations have not grown up with a family sociability that includes wine, and so potential new consumers lack education about wine with food. We do not know what they will be looking for, but we do know that they do not know the grape varieties and production territories. The consumer of tomorrow is no longer specific and “hybrid”, he is looking for pleasantness, today ice cream and tomorrow wine. 80% of wine is sold in gdo where there are hundreds of references on the shelves and even those who are experts struggle: have you ever tried to buy a non-Italian wine abroad? It is really difficult even for specialists. Finally, there are only about ten gdo players in the EU so it is an oligopoly where it is difficult to put a wine on the shelf. We as a group are one step ahead: at the table we combine our expertise on wine markets with those who produce it. Doc Garda has enormous potential based on vineyards, territory, tourism and distribution. It is important to maintain price stability that creates consumer confidence, otherwise we risk the destruction of the product and the brand”.
“Garda Doc,” added Helena Mariscal, Mack & Schühle private label and exclusive brand purchasing manager, “is already export-oriented in key markets such as Germany, Switzerland and France. We pay a lot of attention to Italian wine, witnessed by the presence of 6 managers specialized in horeca in Italy, which with the dedicated distributor TerraVini is the most important country for us after Germany. Our strength is having eyes and tongue on the German market, which in 2024 was worth almost 613 million bottles, down 5.1% for an average price of 3.71 euros, up 1.65%. The figures for total sales of Italian wine in Germany - about 120 million bottles - were different, with a 13.1% decline offset by an average price of 4.42 euros with a 10.5% increase”.
“Northeastern Italy, and in particular the Verona and Vicenza area, is for the UK market and for Liberty Wines a key macro-region in all sales channels”, said Nicholas Moschi, purchasing director of the British distributor, which has gdo (65%), wholesalers (15%), horeca and online (20%) in its portfolio, confirming the export vocation of Doc Garda. Denominations such as Soave Classico, Valpolicella and delle Venezie Doc continue to be very successful in the English and Irish markets, they are the basis of our offer, and Garda Doc has taken on particular importance for us in 2017 with the arrival of the recognition of the Venezie Doc, since this “new” Do covers a very large territory and, in this context, the more restricted area of Garda allows the claim of a more defined origin. It represents a valid and attractive alternative to the varietals Garganega and Pinot Grigio, which in blends give wines with a superior structure and longer life. In addition to the general crisis affecting all countries, in the U.K. there is the Brexit and the introduction of differentiated excise taxes for each decimal of alcoholic degree starting in 2024, which has contributed to the drop in consumption that has already been going on since 2007, but with spending increasing slightly”.
Interlocutors from Italian distribution channels invited by the Garda Doc Consortium gave their willingness to share information on which to build initiatives that could accelerate a new way of communicating wine to the end consumer. “For years Esselunga has been committed to a relationship that puts the customer at the center”, recalled Daniele Colombo, wine and spirit category manager of the chain, which sells one-third of the bottles sold by the large-scale retail trade, “giving ample space to wine; since 1999 with real wine stores in the super-stores (with extensions of more than 2. 500 square meters) in which we offer weekly tastings, to which after Covid was added an online sales site with 2,500 references 99% Italian for 78.5 million bottles, produced by 500 partner wineries and 5.5 million customers. Our loyalty card (ed. note: fidatycar) represents not only an observatory of trends, but also an incentive tool for product knowledge within our customer base through email and our apps. Sharing this data is a great opportunity”.
If one were to move from declarations of willingness to action, the sharing of information collected through the loyalty cards of large-scale retail brands could be a very powerful and timely accelerator of communication to the end consumer given the depth of profiling.
And if for the large-scale retail sector the wine sector can count on the sales data collected by Circana, on the horeca it is completely uncovered. A triangulation between producers and away-from-home is also very desirable because of the role of this channel as a trend forecaster, as pointed out by Lucio Roncoroni, general manager of the Consorzio Distributori Alimentari (Cda), 80 qualified realities in beverage distribution, mainly focused on the horeca market, with almost 18 million wine sales to its credit in 2024. “The long supply chain from the producer to the distributor to the premises seems simple, but it is not”, he explained, “it is very articulated and it is necessary to have an intention to know it. We are willing to share our data in a relationship between our consortium and those of the wine to generate a new partnership model to reach the final consumer. Out-of-home is focused on great products that generate 80% of wholesale beverage distribution sales produced and do not need to be explained. No one needs to tell what Coca-Cola is to a restaurateur who asks at most how much it costs. The world of wine, on the other hand, is huge and requires expertise especially addressing entrepreneurs who have to make choices and who in any case ask you the price. So since 2010 we have started to do training so that the operator knows how to interact upstream with those who produce and downstream with those who sell”.
The customer/consumer is the target of the entire supply chain, whether you buy at the supermarket, wine shop or consume at home, bar or restaurant. And at this moment of momentous change for wine, a recently much-used expression comes good: “no one saves himself”.