In its dossier Frizzante, Corriere Vinicolo analyses the performance of Italian Frizzante. In 2020, Italy's sparkling wines achieved a record turnover on the export markets. The value is €429 million (+4%) for 1.9 million hectolitres. Frizzante has thus survived the year better than Spumante, which had to yield by seven percent.
Prices fell, however, by four percent. According to Corriere Vinicolo, the price erosion is not solely due to the pandemic. It started as early as 2019 when the large 2018 harvest had to be digested by the market.
Frizzante accounts for nine percent of the total volume of wines exported and seven percent of their value. The most important export market for the bubbles up to 2.5 bar is still Germany, where 26 percent of the bottles produced are headed, followed by the USA (19 percent), Mexico (seven percent), Austria, Russia, the Czech Republic, the UK and France each with four percent, and the Netherlands and Spain with three percent each.
Germany's share was much higher in the past, accounting for 55 percent in 2000 and 40 percent in 2010. This is also due to the diversification of the markets: between 2010 and 2020, the number of export markets increased from 98 to 126.
Within the total production, IGP qualities account for 45 percent, varietal and table wines without indications of origin for 37 percent, and DOP goods for 18 percent. Two regions alone account for 90 percent of Frizzante production: Emilia-Romagna and Veneto. Lambrusco with indication of origin (IGP + DOP) took the largest share in 2020 with 160 million bottles produced.
Prosecco DOC is in second place (21 percent of Frizzante production). The production of Prosecco Frizzante is no longer decreasing as much as in previous years and last year still amounted to 87 million bottles out of 501 million bottles in total.
In terms of typologies, red and white share the market fairly with 45 percent each, the remaining ten percent is accounted for by rosé. In the case of Spumante, rosé has – so far – only achieved a quota of seven percent. vc
