Valoritalia: from the Do’s of Italy a 2022 better than expected, to look to 2023 with optimism

A good way, to take further stock of 2022 of Italian wine, with an eye to 2023 that has just begun, observing it from another observatory, that of the bottlings of the 220 appellations certified by Valoritalia (47 Docg, 133 Doc and 40 Igt), which represent more than 60% of quality Italian wine, from which a picture emerges with decidedly less gloomy hues than expected, as President Francesco Liantonio tells, from Bologna, in “Forum Wine Monitor” No. 9.

“The inflationary effect is registering small improvements, and the market will have to rise again, and this will generate optimism in consumers, who will get rid, from spring, definitely of the fear of Covid”, says Francesco Liantonio. “Italian wine appellations and businesses have done very well to overcome such a tough three-year period, so 2023 must be the year of redemption, we need confidence. However, we have a duty to review the landscape of Italian appellations, from which the weakness of Italian wine emerges: the small must enter larger systems, the commune appellation, which does not have the numbers to stay in the market, only creates confusion. We need to be much smarter, promoting the 100 most important appellations, which can drag the whole system of Italian DOCs”, adds the Valoritalia president.

Compared to 2021, the final result shows a negative balance of -3.42%, but +4.72% higher than the average for the three-year period 2019-2021. Numbers behind which lie many differences, especially in terms of positioning in the quality pyramid and the quantitative size of designations. Moreover, the trend of certifications portends a slight market contraction for the first months of 2023, which could coincide with the lowest point of the economic cycle. In 2022, the first three months showed steady growth in bottlings, only to decline steadily over the course of the year, especially among IGTs, to -19.2% in December.

Differentiated trends, as anticipated, can also be detected among the different appellations of Italy: Prosecco marks +2%, Emilia Igt -11%, Asti and Moscato d’Asti +1%, Doc Delle Venezie -19%, Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore -7%, Rubicone Igt -6%, Veneto Igt +4%, Provincia di Pavia Igt -6%, Chianti Classico -5%and Piemonte Doc -7%.

Data also show a high concentration in bottled volumes: the top 10 denominations account for more than 71% of total volumes, and the bottom 120 just 1%, and the performance of the denominations is inversely correlated with their average size. In this sense, the drop in bottlings among the top 30 denominations (by bottled volumes) is -3.3%, between the 31st and 50th positions it rises to -4%, and between position No. 51 and position No. 100 it reaches -6.2%. Going into specifics, out of a total of 47 DOCGs considered, the top 5 account for 72% of total volumes, the bottom 17 only 0.6%. Among the Docs, the top 10 account for 82% of total volumes in the category, the bottom 33 just 0.07%.