by Michèle Shah
Gruppo Campari has been named Italy’s number one wine and spirits company in a recent study carried out by Italy’s Mediobanca. The 42nd edition of the Mediobanca study based its
classification on a total of 3,685 companies, evaluating their earnings for 2006. Out of this total, 1,527 include industrial or service companies. The number of companies that produce and sell alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages included around 40 names.
Gruppo Campari is a major player in the global branded beverage industry with a portfolio of over 40 premium owned brands marketed and distributed in more than 190 countries worldwide.
With almost 150 years of history Gruppo Campari has strong roots in the beverage industry. Since 1995 the company has evolved from a family owned single brand company to a Group listed on the Italian stock exchange.
The Group’s wines includes such names such as Cinzano Sparkling wines, Chateau Lamargue, Enrico Serafino, Liebfraumilch, Mondoro, Riccadonna, Sella&Mosca and Teruzzi&Puthod.
Mediabianco’s list is headed by Diageo, which recently ceded Cinzano to Campari, and by Pernod Ricard, which has a Piedmontese presence with its Distilleria Ramazzotti di Canelli. In second place, is the mineral water giant, San Pellegrino; in third place the world’s number one soda producer, Coca-Cola; fourth place the Dutch beer producer Heineken, followed by San Benedetto (water) and Peroni (beer).
Within the top ten companies heading the list there are three wine producers: Martini & Rossi-Bacardi, Caviro, and Gruppo Italiano Vini. The classification also includes key Italian cooperatives such as Cavit, Mezzacorona, and Cantina di Soave, as well as privately owned winemaking companies: Antinori, Gancia, Fratelli Martini, Zonin and Ruffino.
