Date£º
2014-02-19 11:37 Source£º
winesearcher Author:
Don Kavanagh Translator:
Prosecco's booming fortunes mean the region is laying siege to the hallowed halls of Champagne.
The "Prosecco revolution" isn't just a blessing for fans of affordable, enjoyable sparkling wine, it's also boosting an entire region of Italy.
The vineyards of northeast Italy produced more than 315 million bottles of Prosecco in 2013. Its continued growth over the past decade has seen the Veneto regional president
Luca Zaia announce a "Prosecco Revolution." He told regional newspaper Corriere del Veneto that the ultimate aim was "overcoming a world champion like Champagne."
The Prosecco DOC association released production figures showing that 240 million bottles of the popular sparkling wine were produced in 2013, an increase of 24 percent on the previous year. By contrast, Champagne sales dipped slightly in 2013, down 1.5 percent to 304 million bottles.
It's not simply regular Prosecco that is enjoying a boom in production and sales. The region's higher-tier wines from Prosecco di Conegliano-Valdobbiadene DOCG have seen constant growth over the last 10 years.
DOCG Consortium director Giancarlo Vettorello told Wine-Searcher that the last decade had seen rises of 80 percent in value of sales and almost 75 percent in volume, hitting a peak of 68.8m bottles in 2012. Export markets accounted for 45 percent of that production, with European markets particularly strong, although Vettorello said that the best export performances outside Europe were to the U.S. and Canada.
"In the last 10 years there has been constant growth of sales in the American market; the number of bottles sold has increased fourfold between 2003 and 2012, reaching 2.4m bottles in 2012," he said.