Supporting wine-growing enterprises in sustainability and digitalisation

At Vinitaly, Intesa Sanpaolo organised a conference on "The Next Generation in Wine: From Family Traditions to Corporate Finance" to spur reflection on the future of companies in the wine sector and the challenges they face, starting with sustainability and digitalisation.

In fact, Intesa Sanpaolo, through its Agribusiness Department – a centre of excellence dedicated to agriculture – aims to position itself as a qualified partner to the wine sector and has taken steps to provide advice and offer professional expertise, particularly to the next generation of winemakers.

Below are the highlights of the study on the outlook for the wine sector by Intesa Sanpaolo's Studies and Research Department, presented at the conference:

• Italy is the world's leading wine producer, with more than 50 million hectolitres produced in 2022, number-two by export value after France
• Italian wine exports grew by 10% in current values and were stable in quantity. United States was the number-one trade destination, with over 1.8 billion in 2022 (+8%), followed by Germany with around 1.2 billion (+5%)
• the East is a market to be won for Italian wine. In still wines, France's share of imports to China is 13% and Italy's 2%
• the proper price positioning of the country's wine offerings – still poorly remunerated in relation to quality – should be encouraged

Turning to the challenges posed by sustainability and digitalisation, the study highlights how new impetus could come from a generational change process, which is urgent in Italy for almost one in ten winemakers. Finally, growth in terms of size and assets will need to continue: in France, more than 80% of winemakers aver over 10 hectares, but in Italy the figure is only 50%.