Without a solid wine cooperation, vineyards are lost: the Wine Monitor-Nomisma study

Increasingly focused on exports and quality, the wine cooperatives also safeguard the territory and the Italian vineyards, according to the Nomisma’s data, presented at Vivite, the cooperative wine festival on stage in Milan (17-18 November) that was opened today by the vice-premier Luigi Di Maio, where the Minister of Agriculture Gian Marco Centinaio and the vice-premier Matteo Salvini will be received tomorrow.
The data show that the Italian vineyard experienced a decline in the vineyard surface area of 7% in the last 5 years above all in the regions where the cooperatives are not well-structured, such as Campania, Sardinia, and Lazio (in which only 12% of cooperatives are concentrated) had the most significant decrease, from -15% in Campania to -21% in Calabria.
On the other hand, in the areas where viticulture is extremely fragmented, such as Trento and Bolzano, Emilia Romagna, Abruzzo and Veneto, a significant number of very large cooperatives in terms of turnover (an average of more than 30 million per cooperative in Trento, Verona, Treviso and Reggio Emilia) have managed to maintain the vine cultivation, recording a growth in the area of their vineyard surface areas.
This is an important aspect, explained the president of Alleanza cooperative Italiane Maurizio Gardini, together with the co-presidents Mauro Lusetti and Brenno Begani, who demonstrated with their presence the great vitality of the wine cooperation sector, expressed by significant numbers: more than 480 companies operating throughout the country, 140,000 wine-growing members, a turnover of 4.5 billion euros, 8 cooperatives in the ranking of the top 15 Italian wine companies.

“The study presented by Nomisma shows clearly by the numbers - explained Ruenza Santandrea, Wine Coordinator of Vino di Alleanza cooperative Agroalimentari - the role played by cooperative wineries, safeguarding and developing grape producers, even in the most disadvantaged areas of the country. In the provinces where there is no cooperation, the production potential is gradually decreasing. However, cooperation is often is necessary but not a sufficient condition for the maintenance of the vineyard, which depends on the competitiveness of the cooperatives. It is only in areas, where there are larger and internationalized cooperatives that the cultivation of the vine and the economic sustainability of thousands of small farmers who produce 58% of Italian wine, is guaranteed”.
“Today, more than ever,” said Giorgio Mercuri, chairman of Alleanza Cooperative Agroalimentari, “the challenge is to guarantee sustainability, which the cooperation is ready to face, by providing a development that does not compromise the future generations”.