Where will we end up?

In just 12 years, vineyards in Italy have shrunk by some 140,000 hectares, falling from 792,440 to 654,823. This represents an 18% drop or 1.5% per year. There are some regions where the decline has been greater or where replanting rights have been moved elsewhere. Sicily alone, during the period between 2011 and 2012, lost over 4,000 hectares and, amazingly, Piedmont over 2,500. Emilia Romagna lost almost 2,000 and Sardinia, which already is one of the regions with fewer vineyards, lost almost 1,700 hectares. Bucking the trend were Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia, perhaps thanks to the increased demand for Prosecco and Pinot Grigio, where vineyards expanded respectively by over 1,400 and 800 hectares. Overall, however, we lost 9,000 and France and even Spain now have more vineyard land than Italy does.
Domenico Zonin, the new president of Unione Italiana Vini, recently voiced his concern over this trend and I think with just cause. This because while growing less means we are making less and thus eliminating the historic surpluses that had such a negative and constant effect on Italian production, we also need to look at where the vineyards are being eliminated.
There is a real risk that we may lose the vineyards on the hills, which are less productive and more expensive to cultivate but produce quality wines, even if at a higher price. This will only be to the advantage of standardization, mechanization and those grapes grown on the plains. However, the latter are themselves at risk because some varieties can be grown elsewhere to produce similar results at a lower cost. A case in point is Pinot Grigio that may appear to be saving a lot of wineries in the northeast but in the future could 'emigrate' to Argentina or Romania where the price of land and labor costs are much less than in Italy.
One does not need a crystal ball to envision a similar scenario, economic realities will suffice. Thus we need to be on guard and use our heads because by preferring to have an egg today rather than a hen tomorrow will leave us without either.