The ‘passage’ of Easter

Passover for the Jewish faith recalls the ‘passage’ of the Jews through the Red Sea, while for Christians, who call it Easter, the passage is one from sin to salvation thanks to Christ’s death and resurrection. Both coincide with the passage from winter to spring, nature’s passage from slumber to new growth. A passage is also a new beginning and this is true even for the world of wine.

The first reports on Italy’s 2014 wine exports are in and they are quite good. The volume of exports reached some 20.3 million hectoliters, almost half of what Italy produced and a 1.6% increase over the previous year, while the value of exports set an all-time record of 5.1 billion euros, an increase of 1.7% over 2013. What those in the sector are well aware of, as opposed to politicians and some journalists, is that over 70% of Italy’s wine exports go to three countries: the United States, Germany and, to a lesser degree, Britain. This becomes 75% if you add in exports to Canada and Switzerland. And China? The value of exports there amounted to 57 million euros, or just over 1% of the total, while those to Japan accounted for around 2%. What this means is that Italy is lagging far behind its potential presence in the new markets of East Asia. Export figures for last year also showed that Italy is exporting wine at an average price of 2.5 euros a liter.

The value of exports for France was higher than Italy’s, 7.7 billion euros, but was down 1.2% over the previous year even if the decline was not as drastic as had initially been feared due to a plunge in exports of Bordeaux wines, the value for which sank from 2.1 to 1.7 billion euros. Propping up the value of French exports last year was a miraculous 8% leap for Champagne, from 2.2 to 2.4 billion euros. The volume of French wine exports only reached 14.4 million hectoliters which meant that the average price for exported wine was 5.38 euros per liter, more than double that of Italy. The opposite was true for Spain whose volume of exports was 23.4 million hectoliters, the value of which was only 2.56 billion euros for an average price per liter of just over a euro.

All these numbers are food for thought and it would be a good thing if everyone took them into consideration, also to see through the ruse of those who come up with miraculous albeit improbable proposals. In order to boost exports to new markets, those in countries that do not have a wine-drinking culture, slogans alone are not enough. What needs to be done is to create a wine-drinking culture through explaining what quality wine is, how it should be consumed and how it can be paired with local cuisines. Strong partnerships are also needed with those who will import and distribute Italian wines and not in a situation where it’s everyone for themselves. Effective market strategies are needed that can be adapted to realities that are very different from those in Europe or the US, where Italy’s is an undisputed leader.