When the EU “attacks” wine, Centinaio said, “Italy needs to team up with France in Brussels”

The European Union has been “pampering”, and at the same time, attacking the wine sector. On one hand, it accepted the requests of the sector by publishing the EU “Wine Package”, and sent two Commissioners to Vinitaly 2025, in Verona, to reassure the supply chain on duties and health. At the same time, it has taken a cautious stance about discrediting “ health warnings” labels, after having launched its own European Plan against cancer (BECA - beating cancer plan) in February, including concrete proposals to curb alcohol consumption. Italy needs to find allies in Brussels, therefore, and France has been identified as one of its teammates. Gian Marco Centinaio, Vice President of the Senate and former Minister of Agriculture, spoke at the 57th edition of Vinitaly, during the conference,“ European attacks on Italian wine”, by Cuzziol GrandiVini (the WineNews interview will be online in the next few days, ed.), and proposed that France team up with Italy. “It is important in Europe that two countries lead the way on the topic of wine, and I would say it should be Italy and France, considered opinion leaders in the sector”, Centinaio said. “We need to work through our MEPs and our Governments, to make sure the EU understands the wine world is not the black sheep of the agri-food sector, which they would suggest, but rather the Ambassador of Made in Italy around the world”. Considering the fact that wine and alcohol need to be separated in communication, “science is clear”, Centinaio added, “the alcohol content in wine, when drunk in moderate quantities, does not cause illness or cancer, as some say, indeed in some cases it protects against cardiovascular disease. We will convince the European Union precisely through research. Very often people believe fake news more than science. You cannot compare wine to cigarettes, otherwise everything would collapse, i.e., the sector and the supply chain that revolves around it. Vinitaly, Wine Paris, ProWein, all the top Trade Fairs would cease to be, as well as the smaller ones that are held in less famous locations and territories. Consequently, wine tourism would no longer exist”.
Dr. Roberto Gualtieri, medical director of the Emergency Department at the Cristo Re Hospital in Rome, also emphasized that the problem of alcohol exists, but it is not linked to the wine product. “Wine is not harmful to health, and I say this as a cardiologist”, he explained, “the problem is not using wine, but abusing spirits. Red wine, especially, contains substances that are powerful antioxidants, which preserve the vascular structure. We do need, however, more education on the subject, starting from the families and continuing all the way to schools”. “Making wine means producing culture, to us”, said Pietro Monti, vice president of FIVI, the Italian Federation of Independent Winemakers, at the helm of Roccasanta, said, “but continuing to talk about wine in this way is harmful to the economy. Farmers are the custodians of the land and we must defend our work”.
Centinaio, during the meeting, also spoke, obviously, about tariffs. “Europe needs to negotiate with the US to protect our wine exports, and avoid the escalation of a trade war. I hope that it will decide to maintain a soft line, starting with excluding bourbon from the first list of counter-tariffs it is preparing to launch”, as Antonio Tajani, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs at the EU Council in Luxembourg, announced yesterday. “It would be a victory supporting the Italian Government’s position, thereby confirming its important mediation role between Brussels and Washington”, Centinaio said. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, at the meeting with the production categories, in Palazzo Chigi in Rome, said, “since the United States is imposing tariffs, we are taking this opportunity to remove, here, tariffs that we have imposed on ourselves”, and “to make our system more productive and competitive”. She also announced that she will be in Washington on April 17th for a meeting with Trump. “However, tariffs were not invented by President Trump”, Centinaio explained, “we already pay them to export wine and other products to many countries around the world, from Brazil to China. Italian wine producers often find they are paying higher rates than French producers. I understand, and agree with the principle that Europe move in a united manner in negotiations with the US, but this must always apply, to also equalize tariffs imposed by other Countries.
Italy, today, exports the most wine worldwide, yet other Countries are earning more than we are because they impose a higher average value per bottle. We need to learn to value quality more than quantity. This is the only way we will be able to increase the value of our exports on the many markets that are ready to acknowledge the price that the excellent Italian wines deserve”.