Santa Margherita

A "bang" to finish a difficult 2008 and look forward to 2009 with greater confidence: the Italians decided to ignore the prophets of doom and in the last week of last year, between Christmas and New Year, they did not stint on buying the very best quality wines and foods.
It was especially Italian sparkling wines that proved a driving force for the entire agriculture and food sector, with excellent sales both in Italy and abroad, where the majority of bottles of Italian “bubbly” ended up. Italy is in fact now the world’s third biggest producer of sparkling wine, with no less than 310 million bottles sold in 2008.
This brand-new report comes from the Forum Spumanti & Bollicine (“Sparkling Wine Forum”) in Conegliano, directed by Giampietro Comolli, which carries out ongoing analysis on sparkling wine consumption.
Let us take a look at some of the figures: in Italy, 120 million bottles of sparkling wine were purchased – at a cost of 850 million Euros – during the holiday period. They were drunk mainly during the night of 31st December, when the corks of 80 million bottles were popped and 600 million Euros were spent. Consumption of Champagne has diminished, whereas Spanish Cava is becoming increasingly popular as a gift.
As we have said, other countries also toasted in the New Year with Italian sparklers. Exports have grown in value (+29%) and volume ( 11%) terms: the figures are 1.6 billion Euros and 163 million bottles. There is great demand from emerging international markets such as Russia and Brazil, but also “lesser” countries like Georgia, Latvia, Estonia and Israel where there are lots of young people who are very interested in the glamorous and fashionable Italian lifestyle and in a wine that is not excessively alcoholic, with good fruit and an attractive price/quality ratio. Compared to Champagne, it would seem, Italian sparkling wines do not “disappoint” the consumer and do not “hit” his or her wallet too hard. These two qualities have been amply recognized and appreciated.
Will this become an ongoing trend, though?
For the Forum, the key is in making the drinking of sparkling wine into less of a seasonal phenomenon, making it a (more or less) “everyday” product and one that can be consumed throughout a meal. Fortunately this concept is starting to be taken on board: the percentage of sparkling wines that are drunk in Italy during the last 30 days of the year has in fact gone down from 84 to 72%. Obviously, however, there is still plenty of room for improvement on this score.
There are great expectations with regard to younger consumers, who are changing their drinking habits at happy hour from cocktails to sparkling wines: a decision that is also more in line with more stringent limits on alcohol consumption. This will undoubtedly have a positive effect on the health and safety of individuals and the community alike.