fbtechreview.comSEPTEMBER 20248Looking back at 2023, data tells us that wine consumption and sales have been shrinking globally. Some of the causes that are affecting wine sales are new generations drinking a variety of other beverages like craft beers, RTDs and mixed drinks, wine being seen more as an "older" generation beverage and being mostly consumed over dinner, over-production globally, price increases, and possibly a challenge could be that wine is a product where more "homework" is necessary before feeling comfortable in purchasing a bottle. Data from the Oemv (Observatorio Espanol del Mercado del Vino) at the end of September 2023 and compared to the prior year showed that there had been a loss of 768 million liters of wine and 802 million euros, respectively. Price went up an average of 18 cents, which does not sound like much when looked at this way, but this is a global statistic. Only two of the top 11 producing countries, New Zealand and Portugal, could grow in volume, 9.7% and 0.4%, respectively.While France remained in first place for revenues with 12.1 billion euros, they still lost 87.7 million liters. Italy was in second place with 7.7 billion euros in income but also lost 58.6 million liters. However, these two countries did not have it as bad as others, being two of the three most significant wine producers in the world (Spain being second, behind Italy and in front of France), and together with that, price increases helped balance the overall losses of business/sales.The US wine industry registered the most significant price increases and, at the same time, double-digit losses (-11% as of November 2023 that changed a bit by year's end) as a result of the tough competition in the marketplace by so many other products and probably also the general tiredness towards the bigger, more affluent, quite alcoholic and at times mono-dimensional wines (big volume wines).Within this downward spiral in the US market, Italy has been able to maintain a reasonably strong positioning (doing better than most imported wines) although still with negative 3% (as of November 2023); this negative number was helped by the growing sales of Italian sparklers (Prosecco first and foremost). Interestingly enough, sparkling Italian wines are now the most significant slice of the pie with a 38% share versus white wines following at 35.5%, and lastly and probably quite a bit unexpectedly, red wines close at 17.5% (-16% from the year prior).With such a turbulent landscape, what can a massive wine-producing and exporting country like Italy do to get back on the positive sign? These are questions that all wine organizations, producers, consortiums, governmental and trade agencies, and all of us in the Italian wine business ask ourselves all the time, especially in lieu of 2024, to say the least, challenging ahead of us.In my opinion, Italy, with its unique overall bio-diversity but, more specifically, grape varietals, truly endless and second-to-none diversity, can come out strong and continue to be the top player as far as imports in the US and build a lot of interest within new generation and not-so-experienced wine consumers.Maybe the "concept" of the Italian dolce vita that many Americans love and get to enjoy while traveling to Italy, maybe the huge amount of regional cooking preparations and healthy Mediterranean diet that translate into so many dishes found in so many restaurants throughout the country, sustainability LOOKING AHEAD TO 2024 FOR ITALIAN WINES IN THE USBY CIRO PIRONE, DIRECTOR OF ITALIAN WINES, HORIZON BEVERAGEin myviewCiro Pirone
< Page 7 | Page 9 >