The Valpolicella Wine Consortium can count this year’s meticulously planned "Valpolicella Annual Conference," held at the end of February 2021, as a complete success. More than 7,800 participants from 26 countries participated. For the first time, the production group relied on a completely digital event, but had to skip the usually affiliated Anteprima Amarone.
Nevertheless, there were three wine typologies from Valpolicella for 100 international buyers and trade journalists to taste. Twelve samples each with a content of 20 millilitres, four ampoules each of Valpolicella, Ripasso and Amarone from different vintages, were sent to the invited guests in good time.
The aim of the guided tastings was to show different styles and territorial characteristics of the wines, not about vintage or quality reviews, which would have been difficult given the digital environment. The core topics of the annual conference this year were the state support for the wine sector, the expansion of distribution channels and, of course, the market analysis that Denis Pantini of Nomisma-Wine Monitor presents every year.
Amarone holds its own, Ripasso and Valpolicella lose out
Pantini’s analysis is based on samples covering about half of the production potential in Valpolicella. Among them, a sales average of 1.1 million bottles per year was determined. According to the surveys, Veneto's most important red PDO ended the year with a loss in value of 3.3 percent, with the export business remaining stable (-0.1 percent), but the domestic market dropping 9.6 percent.
Amarone saved the overall export value of Valpolicella wines with a seven percent increase, but in Italy sales fell by 13 percent. The growth abroad is crucial because two-thirds of Amarone sales are generated on international markets. However, the price dropped by five percent on average.
"When we consider the economy, the performance of our top wine is positive, closing the year better than the national average. But we are concerned about the disparity within the overall figures because the small quality farms are suffering badly from the closure of the Horeca Canal. They have lost on average ten percent in exports and 28 percent of demand in Italy. This directly attacks the DNA of our production structure and it also affects the other DOCs in the survey," Christian Marchesini, President of the Consortium, comments on the figures.
Forty-four percent of Amarone sales in Italy take place in the food retail trade, but the small wineries only take ten percent of their turnover via the trade. Sales to wholesalers with a focus on gastronomy account for 47 percent. Direct sales account for seven percent and online trade for three percent.
Export markets
On the export markets, the USA shines with a nine percent increase in value, its share is 14 percent, followed by Switzerland with 12 percent, the UK with 11 percent, and Canada and Germany with ten percent. The five main countries for Amarone exports grew between four and nine percent.
The Ripasso generates 73 percent of sales abroad, and in 2020 it dropped five percent (+ two percent in volume).
Canada confirmed its position as the main export market (23 percent of total exports) with a delicate increase of one percent, followed by Sweden (11 percent) and the trio of Switzerland, Germany and the UK, each occupying 9 percent of the export pie. In Italy, sales fell by four percent and turnover dropped by six percent. At home, 62 percent of Ripasso sales are achieved in food retail.
Valpolicella is also in the red both abroad and in Italy. Exports account for 67 percent of sales of this type of wine, which fell by three percent without any price losses. In Italy, where two out of three bottles are sold through the food retail trade, the value lost eight percent compared to a loss of 0.3 percent in volume, so there were plenty of special offers. For the small wineries, this distribution channel accounts for only 9 percent of sales, so their loss is much higher (-21 percent).
Canada is also the main export market for regular Valpolicella, with over a third of the export quota. The USA takes 19 percent, Norway nine percent and the Netherlands is on a par with Germany at a share of six percent. vc
