Americans are drinking more Italian wines than Italians themselves, owing to the popularity of sparkling wines from the southern European country and millennials.
Italian varieties are the top imported wine in the US, which is the world’s largest consumer market, according the Italian Wine and Food Institute.
Winemakers attending the Vinitaly trade show in New York said despite such classic Italian wines as Barolo, Brunello and Babaresco, the sparkler Prosecco is driving sales right now. It was pulled in by Moscato,” Stevie Kim, manag-ing director of Vinitaly, said about the sweet, sparkling Italian dessert wine.
The Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), which serves many California vineyards, noted in its 2014 annual business report for the industry that “the Millennial generation is consuming more foreign wine.” Millennials also have a fondness for sweeter wines.
Sales of Moscato imported from Italy were up 26.3 per cent by volume for the 52 weeks ending January 4, according to the Nielsen ratings company. Imports from Italy of a still version of the grape were up 14.1 per cent by volume.
Unlike Prosecco, which is made from the Glera grape and must be produced in a well-demarcated region, Moscato is a grape that can be grown anywhere and is not subject to the regulations of an Italian consortium.
So Italian brands of Moscato, such as Riunite, Maschio Cadora, or Ceretto Santo Stefano, are battling US brands, including Barefoot, Beringer or Cupcake, for shelf space.
And although Italy is the world’s largest wine exporter, Italians are drinking less wine as American consumption rises.
“(The) large majority of Italians like to drink a glass of wine having their meal,” said Michele Antonio Fino, associate professor at the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo. “They don’t feel it is as necessary as it was 30 years ago.”
Wine consumption is at its lowest point in Italy since the country was unified in 1861, according to Coldi-retti, an Italian farmers’ association.
Although final figures were not available, Italians were expected to drink per adult about 40 litres of wine in 2013, or just about a third of the 110 litres a year they used to consume in the 1970s, according to the Italian winemaking association Assoenologi.
By comparison, Americans drank between five litres and eight litres per person in the 1970s. In 2012, they consumed 10 litres of wine, according to the California-based Wine Institute.
The consortium that governs the production of Prosecco reported global sales in 2013 topped some 241.6 million bottles, up more than 24 per cent from 2012.
Still, there are signs that Prosecco producers and many other winemakers will have difficulties raising their prices in 2014. California’s SVB cautioned that the higher volume of wine available for sale in a sluggish economy will temper the opportunity for producers to raise prices.