Wine markets in crisis, but Italy is holding up. The focus in the Valpolicella Annual Conference

The pandemic in 2020 has weighed heavily on the world’s wine markets, in terms of international trade, at least in the most important countries. With Italy, and this is good news, which, on the whole, has withstood the impact of Covid, at least for exports. The 12 months of 2020 show a global market in deep red everywhere, with the top US buyers down by -11.1% and the emerging Chinese demand sinking to -26.7%, with Germany and the UK losing about 4% and Canada -0.9%. In this context, Italy limited its losses and did better than the world average in key areas such as the USA (-3.3%) and Germany (+1.1%). These are the basic data (the source is Customs, processed by Nomisma Wine Monitor), under the lens of the Valpolicella Annual Conference, the new 100% digital event of the Consortium of the first red wine DOP in Veneto and one of the most important in Italy, scheduled for Friday, February 26 and Saturday, February 27, with focus on markets, policies and positioning strategies, but also tasting and insights on the future of the denomination, starting with sustainability.
According to Nomisma Wine Monitor for the Consortium, Italy has managed to contain its losses (-2.9% in the first 11 months based on ISTAT, as already reported by WineNews), thanks to a partial but important redistribution of sales channels, with the revival of large-scale distribution. And it is precisely this multichannel approach that will be the main topic of the two-day event, dedicated to the commercial future of wine between “large-scale distribution, horeca, e-commerce” (February 26, 11 am), with contributions from Denis Pantini, head of Nomisma Wine Monitor, Francesco Scarcelli, head of Coop Italia spirits, Paolo Zanetti, founder of Callmewine, Alessandro Boga, specialist portfolio Italy of US importer Wilson Daniels, Luca Pizzighella, brand manager Signorvino, and Roberto Burro, professor of psychology at the University of Verona.
An important focus on the Italian wine market in general, and Valpolicella in particular, one of the most important territories in Italy, with the Consorzio Vini Valpolicella representing more than 80% of a denomination made up of 8,400 hectares of vineyards scattered in 19 municipalities, which expresses an annual turnover of 600 million euros.