Italy’s sparkling wine exports registered a 29% increase in sales last year, with UK sales rising nearly 100%.
According to Italy’s sparkling wine trade body, the Forum Spumanti & Bollicine, sales rose to 1.6m in value and were up by 11% in volume on 2007.
This is the first time exports of Italian sparkling wine (Spumante) have overtaken national sales, said Giampietro Comolli, President of the Forum.
‘Spumante is clearly overriding Champagne and seducing foreign markets because it beats other sparkling wines on the merit of its quality-price ratio,’ he said.
Europe is the largest importer of Italian sparkling wines, taking almost three quarters of total exports.
The UK is Italy’s top market for Spumante with sales doubling and rising by 98% in value. In new markets such as Spain and Russia, exports have risen by 88% and 40% resectively.
Italy is the third-largest producer of Sparkling wines in the world, with a total production of 310m bottles. Asti Spumante is the leading sparkling wine export, followed by Prosecco, Franciacorta and Trento.
Written by Michele Shah
