One bottle = one glass

Quanto Basta is a new Italian range of 20cl and 25cl wines that has just been launched in the Uk by Crush Wines Ltd. It is produced by Coltiva, an Italian wine coop representing 7.550 vintners, 10.000 hectares of vineyards, and selling more than 500 products in various formats in 40 countries around the world. Quanto Basta offers a range of quality sparkling and still wines coming from Italian regions like Veneto and Romagna, including some interesting labels such as Verdicchio and Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. Quanto Basta, that literally translated means 'just enough', comes with an easy to use screw-cap closure which is practical and avoids the oxidation effects. Capitalising on current growth areas such as sparkling, as well focusing on the role of social responsibility, the range includes a Prosecco Veneto, and a Vino Bianco Frizzante. Four of the wines in the range are low in alcohol.

(adapted from http://www.talkingretail.com/products/8950/Crush-Wines-launches-Quanto-Ba.ehtml)

Packaging innovation is becoming more and more a must for wineries willing to launch new Italian wine brands abroad. A unique bottle shape and label, with or without an alternative closure, is in fact capable to immediately differentiate the content. Nowadays packaging is also capable to satisfy eco-friendly/healthy living/handiness consumer needs. A question for everybody: a packaging can be copied more easily than a wine? Or not?

Territorial marketing for Piemonte at Liwf

Piemonte, North-Western Italian region, is attending for the first time the London International Wine & Spirits Fair with 20 wine producers and consortia. At the Italian Pavillion (stand U50), Piemonte will be displaying its best oenological production, inviting all visitors to taste wine and spirits paired with food specialties. In addition Piemonte will also organise conferences and tasting sessions at the Italian Wine Seminar Area. With 44 different Doc (registered designation of origin) and 13 Docg (registered and guaranteed designation of origin) wines, covering 80% of the total production, Piemonte produce wines such as Barolo and Barbaresco. A snapshot of the wine industry shows 53.000 hectares of land under vines, with an average annual production of 450.000 tons of grapes, mainly from autochthonous vines, processed into around 3 million hectolitres of wine. Piedmontese wine and spirits sector also confirms its international vocation: 60% of the production is in fact destined to foreign Countries, headed by the United States and Germany. In 2006 the regional export reached around 1 billion euro, representing 20% of the national total, which is expected to grow in 2007 for a supposed 12%. Uk is the first destination for the Piedmontese beverage sector - wine, alcohol and spirits, mineral water and soft drinks - representing 20% of the Piedmontese exports, so as nearly 225 million Euros, and a third of the regional total to the European Union.

(adapted from http://www.centroestero.org/EN/Page/t02/view_html?idp=303)

The Italian wine industry is moving its first steps towards territorial marketing. In this view a region/appellation should be managed as a brand, with a unitarian image and a coherent price positioning. A brand that covers not only wine, but also food, tourism and handicraft. Probably one of the Italian regions that are more ahead in territorial marketing is Alto Adige. Piemonte has a much more pronounced diversity, but it's worth while to have a try.

From the screen to the shelf: a new wine brand is born

For the first time a wine has born in a television fiction called "I Cesaroni", broadcasted by Canale 5 (Mediaset group). In the seventh episode of the fiction the two Cesaroni brothers decide to buy the vineyards that their father had sold before dying. Then they start producing a wine called "Senz'amarezza", that "never leaves a bitter taste in the mouth". A few months after the Cantina Cerquetta, located near Rome, has acquired the licensing rights and has started to sell a similar wine in the "real" market. The wine of the Tv fiction has been launched to the public in two versions: a white "Frascati Superiore Senz'amarezza Doc", and a red "Red Lazio IGT Senz'amarezza" (a blend of Merlot and Sangiovese).

(translated and adapted from http://www.teatronaturale.it/articolo/4620.html)

To comunicate a wine you need a story, and if you lack it you can invent it. This promotional initiative has helped launching a wine that, probably, will be forgotten in one/two years. But it helps us to understand that wine communication has to focus not only on the production, but also on the consumption. In the "I Cesaroni" fiction wine is drunk in a family atmosphere, as most Italians do at home every day.

Yellow future for Italian wines?

In 2007 Italian wine exports grew by 7.8% after a 6.5% increase in 2006. The increase in demand was particularly strong in emerging markets: +55% for a value of 15 million euros in China and +35.5% for a value of 6.6 million euros in Hong Kong. Therefore the presence of Italian wines at the next edition of the Vinexpo-Asia fair, that will take place in Hong Kong from the 27th to the 29th May has a particularly high strategic value. Ice (the Italian Trade Commission) has organised an official delegation to Vinexpo-Asia with the aim of developing and consolidating trade links with the Asian regions, where demand grew sharply in recent years. In February 2008 Hong Kong has announced a reduction on wine import duties, with the intention of transforming the former British colony into a mature market, a world class wine centre on par with London and New York. The 72 million dollars reduction in tax revenues should boost the local market by 500 million dollars. One must look into the future to understand the prospect for Italian wines in Asia and in the Far East in particular. According to a recent study carried out in Hong Kong, wine imports will increase on average between 10% to 20% in the next five years, peaking to 100% in some regions. The main areas for growth should be China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore. Excluding Japan, the turnover for the wine sector in these countries should reach 130 billion Hong Kong dollars in 2012. The real boom is expected to happen in the following five years: by 2017 the market should reach the level of 210 billion Hong Kong dollars. There is another reason why China represents a sensational opportunity for Italy: pro capita consumption of wine is still low. Currently there are just over 10 million regular drinkers but the estimated potential is huge: 5% to 10% of the population, i.e. over 100 million consumers under the best scenario ready to drink 750 million bottles in 2009, which should become over 1 billion by 2011.

(from http://www.italtrade.com/countries/americas/usa/business/index2.htm)

Today I cannot write anything else but offer to Chinese people all my heart-felt condolences upon the quake that has toppled buildings and schools in central China, killing more than 12,000 in Sichuan province alone. Thousands more people are still trapped in mounds of concrete, steel and earth in the worst quake in three decades.

January exports: 2008 starts well

After a flat month in December, exports of Italian wine had a good month in January. It must be said that this is a very light month, also because it comes after the peak of the last quarter of the year. We exported 1.3m/hl, about flat compared to last January, for a value of EUR238m, an increase of 14% compared to January 2007. The average export price of EUR1.83 shows an increase of 16% over January 2007. Moving to annual figures (February 2007-January 2008), Italian exports are still growing by about 9%, broken down as +1.5% from volumes (18.8m/hl) and a +7.5% from the price-mix . If there is a negative impact from the bad advertising recently offered (for free) by the Italian press to the sector of Italian wine, we will see it only in a few months, when we will comment exports in May-June. In this context of growth, the lion share continues to be taken by sparkling wines, which grew in January by 67%. The annual growth stands at 30%, or EUR400m. To push exports of sparkling wine are the usual countries: England (third market, +111% in a year, EUR60m), Spain (EUR35m, +150%) and Russia (+66% to EUR24m). US shows a constant deceleration at +7% per annum (vs. the +15% of just 3 months ago). Germany continues to do well, with an annual growth rate that remains at around 10% per annum. Japan and the Netherlands are clearly down.The export of bottled wines also had a good month: the annual growth remains at around 6%, which is equally divided between higher volumes and better prices. United States and Germany are now stable (and this is not bad for the United States, considering the negative impact of the exchange). The growth markets are still UK (+9%), Canada (+7%) and Switzerland (+11%). After the sparkling wines, bulk wines are those growing more, with an annual growth of +15%, driven mainly by the price-mix. Volumes are decreasing, we are at 6.4m/hl year, now far from peak touched of 7.1m/hl in June 2007. Where is this bulk wine going? EUR256m of EUR458m of the total go to Germany (stable compared to a year ago), EUR45m in France (-25%), EUR20m in Switzerland (-20%), EUR47m Czech Republic (+37%) and EUR18m in Hungary (-35%). Finally, a few words on imports in January which were stable at EUR20m, with a total for the year of EUR345m (17%). Splitting this value by type, the bulk wines were up 16% to EUR86m, bottled wines were up 9% to EUR54m and sparkling wines (Champagne and a bit of Cava) reached EUR205m, +20% vs. January 2007.

(from http://inumeridelvino.it/2008/05/esportazioni-di-vino-italiano-aggiornamento-gennaio-2008.html)

It's always astonishing to discover how much Italian bulk wine is still exported in the world! Could be interesting to know how it is sold in Germany, in France or in Switzerland, once it is bottled. A positive signal is that in 2007/2006 Italian bulk wines' exports have increased by 15% in value.

Italians and wine: conservatives and unpredictables

The Italian wine group Santa Margherita has published an in-depth research on consumption patterns of wine, and on the criteria of choice and purchase, made in collaboration with the market research company Swg Tomorrow. The study reveils that 75,7% of Italians consume wine, and that about 50% of the interviewed drink it almost every day, mainly at home (58,7%). The purchase decisions are firstly motivated by color (58,8%), while for 27,1% the choice is split between still and sparkling wines. Brand and varieties are considered only by 22% of the consumers: only 50% of respondents are able to spontaneously mention a brand of wine. About 50% of the interviewed choose their wine in a well specific price range: 40,2% prefer inexpensive wines (less than 3 euros), 30,9% want to spend no more than 5 euros, and the remaining usually buy premium wines. More than 76% of the interviewed buy premium wines when bottles are going to be used as gifts. About 60% like to experiment new labels and denominations, suggested by friends and relatives other than by advertising campaigns on television, radio and print, while the remaining 40% use to buy always the same kind of wine. "The research - commented Lorenzo Biscontin, marketing director of Santa Margherita group - shows that the Italian wine market is more and more segmentated, and that buying decisions are no more determined by socio-demographic profiles only, but also by consumption occasions".

Wine marketing is not an easy job at all. In Italy, in fact, 40% of the consumers continue to buy the labels they have always bought, and the remaining 60% go looking for new wines driven more by the "word of mouth" than by the traditional brand advertising. The solution? Try to set up a wide "umbrella brand" under wich consumers can find many different wines, coming from different regions... And why not start using wineries' blogs to increment "word of mouth"?

Vinitaly, to Russia with wine

Exponential growth for wine and agro-food products from Italy to Russia. From June 9th to 11th the New Manege Exhibition Centre in Moscow will host the 5th edition of Vinitaly Russia, organised in partnership with Cibus and Ice. On June 11th there will also be a workshop and some tastings in St. Petersburg, at the Perinnye Ryady Business Centre. Last year Vinitaly Russia gathered more than 100 Italian producers, and attracted more than 2.000 trade operators, including importers, distributors, retailers, caterers, journalists and opinion leaders. In 2007, wine exports were more than 57.5 million euro, up by 43% over 2006, for a total of 237.000 hectolitres (compared to 96.000 hectolitres in 2005), with an increase of 18.8%. Particular success has been achieved by sparkling wines, that posted a total of 23.6 million euros (+69%), with 70.000 hectolitres (+76%). Italian sparkling wine by now covers one-third of the Russian market, well ahead of France, and the early months of 2008 are confirming this positive trend. Italian wine and food products still focus on luxury consumption, and Italy consequentely ranks only fifth for wine imports, with a market share of 6%, and fifteenth for agro-foods, with 2%. After Russia, the World Tour organised by Vinitaly will resume in Chicago, New York and Washington from October 27th-30th. The 2008 Vinitaly international calendar will end in November in Japan (Tokyo) and China (Peking, Shanghai and Macao).

(adapted from http://www.vinitaly.it/comunicati_en.asp?area=news&id=3028)

In one of the most fragmented markets in the world, the biggest wine fairs are becoming global brands. Vinitaly is no exception: born as the first national wine fair in Italy, now it has become a promotional chanel in many countries of the world. The need of networking and aggregation is very much perceived by Italian wine producers, but are fairs really usefull to explain/comunicate the distinctiveness of each region and appellation?