Promotion abroad and production cutbacks the levers to revive wine

"There is an Ikea research that gives us important indications for the future of wine. According to this research, the kitchen table has disappeared from the homes of Italians and in particular young people. People eat standing up, on the sofa, even in bed. But less and less at the table. With this in mind, if we want to tell consumers, and young people in particular, that wine should be drunk with meals, let's be careful. It could turn out to be the wrong strategy'.

In the account of the president of the Italian Wine Union, Lamberto Frescobaldi during the first 'Forum of Italian Cuisine' organised in Manduria (Taranto) by Bruno Vespa in collaboration with Ice Agency and Comin & Partners there are all the perplexities about the future of the wine producers made in Italy. A sector that has paid a high price (an estimated 300 million euros in lost exports to the US) to President Trump's tariffs and the disadvantageous euro-dollar exchange rate. Certainly it has not been helped in recent years by the health offensive that has equated wine with other alcoholic beverages without differentiating between abuse and moderate, meal-related consumption. And now it also looks with concern at the new complex international scenario that risks penalising the sector with new increases in energy and transport costs.

One key to an effective response is certainly promotion and generally the search for new markets abroad.

"Wine is one of the sectors on which we are concentrating the most," added the president of Ice Agenzia, Matteo Zoppas, "also because in recent months there has been a crisis table at Palazzo Chigi chaired by the Premier, Giorgia Meloni. With the new increased resources allocated to Ice, we are setting up a new project aimed at opening up new markets. An important lever can be represented by the trade agreements signed by the EU with Mercosur, India and Australia. Meanwhile, at this year's Vinitaly there will be a 20% increase in foreign buyers," he said.

'Certainly, promotion abroad is the road to beat,' added the president of Federvini's Wine Group, Albiera Antinori, 'also using the recognition of Italian cuisine as a Unesco Heritage Site as a driving force. Another possibility could come from a possible reunification of the delegations of the Ministry of Tourism with those of Agriculture. A road that had already been taken when Centinaio was minister at Via XX Settembre and that in my opinion could be useful at a juncture like the present. Without forgetting that motivations linked to food and wine are one of the main drivers of foreign tourism in our country'.