Wine and revolving pledge, an agreement between Bolgheri Wines Consortium and Crédit Agricole Italia

The top wine territories are continuing to invest in the “Revolving Pledge”, which allows wineries to transform their wine in stock into monetary liquidity. Just a few days ago, Albiera Antinori, head of the Consorzio dei Vini Bolgheri (protecting the Bolgheri and Bolgheri Sassicaia denominations) has also signed an agreement with the bank Crédit Agricole that will permit the wineries in the area to activate the pledge. The agreement provides the possibility of granting credit based on the market values of PDO and PGI wine in stock, subject to certification of existence. Specifically, the instrument consists of opening a credit line, which can be used in one or more solutions, against the simultaneous pledge of the specified types of PDO and PGI products.
The agreement recently signed has been, therefore, added to the one Crédit Agricole Italia had already signed in November 2020, with Federdoc and Valoritalia. The agreement was made possible mainly due to the work carried out together with the Tuscan Territorial Committee, established in 2019 to support the bank in classifying interventions and projects aimed at supporting and encouraging the growth and sustainable development of the Territory.
“As Crédit Agricole we have already disbursed the funds for the first procedure on the revolving pledge in Tuscany. We are particularly proud of this agreement with the Consorzio dei Vini Bolgheri, because it demonstrates Crédit Agricole Italia's willingness to act as a reference partner for companies in the wine sector, as well as confirming its ability to offer competitive and innovative solutions”, said Massimo Cerbai, head of Tuscan Regional Management. “We are very pleased that our Consortium is the first in Italy to propose, together with the bank Crédit Agricole Italia, to the Bolgheri companies an innovative solution, which is even more useful in this very challenging moment we are experiencing, in which there is definitely a need for positive energy. The innovation is the valorization of our PDO wines at the level of non-bulk products, but already bottled and possibly already certified, through a customized study of the positioning of our wines and of the Bolgheri brand. The added value often materializes in the finished product and consequently this is an excellent system to guarantee the best to our Members. We hope, most of all, that this measure will give practical and concrete support to wine companies on the one hand, by further strengthening the image, and value of the denomination, on the other”, said Albiera Antinori, president of the Consorzio dei Vini Bolgheri. “We are convinced that this agreement will help strengthen the financial and equity structure of companies in the sector, supporting them in implementing commercial and technological development projects. We believe that the revolving pledge will undoubtedly contribute to better financial management”, concluded Stefano Berni, Agro Banca d'Impresa coordinator of Crédit Agricole Italia.
The “Revolving Pledge” instrument has been gaining momentum mainly due to the agreements between wine consortia and credit institutions. For example, the agreements between Brunello di Montalcino, Chianti Classico and Nobile di Montepulciano, with the bank Monte dei Paschi, and those of Barolo and Barbaresco, with the bank Intesa San Paolo.