The glass, it must be said, tends to return half full. A question of perspective, of course, but also of numbers. The data on the Sicilian wine market, processed by Nomisma’s Wine Monitor for UniCredit, give rise to hope for 2024. A light of hope is filtering through, it seems, although it is still too early to say given that the analysis concerns the first two months of this year and there is no breakdown by region. According to Nomisma’s Wine Monitori, «although still not very indicative of what the trend of the year will be, the first two months of 2024 sees wine purchases from Italy going against the trend». A fact, as far as Sicily is concerned, basically empirically confirmed by visits to the Sicily Stand at Vinitaly in Verona. «The UniCredit-Nomisma study highlights a constantly evolving global and domestic wine market, both for reasons within the sector and for broader dynamics relating to the economic and geopolitical sphere – says Salvatore Malandrino, Regional Manager Sicily of UniCredit -. Precisely for this reason UniCredit is committed to renewing the range of support tools for the sector, to complement traditional credit support. I am thinking, for example, of the 1 billion euro ceiling as part of the ‘UniCredit per l’Italia’ initiative to support the investments of agricultural and agri-food companies, of the minibond bond issues and of the renewed structure of our network with the presence of managers and agribusiness specialists, who are able to support the realities of the sector in an even more targeted way.”
Trend reversal in the first two months of 2024
The situation, again according to Nomisma’s Wine Monitor on customs data, is this: the average export growth in 11 selected countries is 4.3% with peaks of 18.5% in Canada and then 11% in the UK, 7.7% in France, 6.1% in the United States, 4.6% in Australia, 3.6% in China and 1.8% in Norway. On the other hand, Japan is doing badly, recording a collapse in imports of Italian wines with a drop of 36.2% and South Korea with a drop of 37%. Brazil also fell with a decline of 6 percent.
The 25 years of Assovini
Ultimately, put like this, these are comforting data and at the same time useful for celebrating with a certain serenity the 25 years of Assovini, the Sicilian association which brings together around a hundred large and small producers, and above all the 20 years of Sicilia en Primeur, the event (which will be held in Cefalù from 9 to 11 May) with over one hundred accredited journalists from the Italian and foreign press, in addition to 59 associated companies and the presence of Pietro Russo, new Master of Wine, together with sector professionals who will guide scheduled technical seminars. «Sicilia en Primeur 2024 will be a special edition with a double birthday: twenty-five years since the foundation of Assovini Sicilia and twenty years since the first edition of Sicilia en Primeur – comments Mariangela Cambria, president of Assovini Sicilia -. The association, which today brings together one hundred wine companies, is a protagonist in the history of Sicilian viticulture and its revolution, thanks to the extraordinary vision of its founders and the commitment of the successors and companies that have worked in recent years to promote Sicilian wine as a cultural ambassador in the world, enhancing the diversity of the Sicilian wine continent.”
White wines drive Sicily
The analysis of the data for 2023 tells us that white wines and organic crops are driving Sicily, which is resisting the contraction of the grape harvests of the last harvest due to extreme climatic events and the attack of downy mildew. On the export front in Sicily in 2023, exports of PDO red wines are decreasing (-4%) while exports of PDO still white wines are growing (+ 7%). The export of Sicilian PDO white wines is growing in the United States (+29%), followed by Canada (+13.9%) and Germany (+6.8%). For Sicilian DOP red wines, the greatest export growth occurred with France (+7.5%), followed by the United Kingdom (+6.8%). positive data also comes from large-scale organized distribution where sales of regional PDO wines grew by 5.3% in value (against a national average of +3.4%) and by +0.3% in volume (against a drop in -1.9%).
Sicilian labels in fifth place in consumer tastes
The 2024 edition of the Observatory was enriched by the results of a survey involving 1,000 Italian wine consumers, representative of the Italian population by gender, age and territorial residence. The objectives of the survey were, among others, to evaluate the notoriety of the main denomination wines among consumers, identify the regions most appreciated in the production of wines by type and show consumption behavior at a territorial level (frequency, channels purchase, etc.). perception of the Sicily brand. Sicilian labels placed fifth behind wines from Piedmont, Tuscany, Veneto, Tuscany and Friuli Venezia Giulia. Among red wines, the Island drops to sixth place but rises to third for white wines. Grillo is leading this “white” growth.
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2024-05-02 03:54:36