The production of Italian sparkling wines in 2022 is closing again and almost 1 billion bottles (978 million). This was revealed by the Osservatorio Uiv-Vinitaly, which processed the bottling data collected from the certification bodies. The figure marks a slight increase (+4%) compared to an overflowing 2021 (+25%), with municipalities and varietals (+10%) doing better than sparkling Doc-Igp (+3%, 807 million bottles) . Territorially, 85% of Italian PDO-PGI sparkling wine has Venetian origins (683 million bottles), then Piedmont (9% and 72 million), Lombardy (3% and 24 million), Trentino (2% and 16 million ) and Emilia-Romagna (1% and 7.4 million).

The 2022 final balance on sales in Italy closes at +1% (284 million bottles consumed), of which -3% on the retail circuit and +5% on the restaurant-bar circuit. In any case, a performance that should not be underestimated, even if the real winners in large-scale distribution are the non-Prosecco Charmats, with strong growth in general (+13%), but above all at discount stores (+22% per year). Domestic consumption of sparkling wine has reached a complete level of maturity: in 2022, the share of total wine stood at 13.5% (it was 9% in 2015), with Prosecco as usual the great protagonist of sales with 44 Volume share %.

Exports are doing better, which confirms the driving role of Italian sparkling wines in favor of the entire sector. In 2022, Italy exported 5.2 million hectoliters of sparkling wine, up 6% compared to 2021, of which 3.7 million of Prosecco (+6%) and 461,000 from Asti (+9%). Strong increase in exported values, exceeding 19% for the total category for a value of 2.2 billion euros. Prosecco remains the driving force behind exports (+22% in value, 1.6 billion euros) but Asti Spumante is also growing well, flying at +16% and 168 million euros in sales.

“Compared to 2010, the value of Italian sparkling exports has grown by almost 400%, with the rise of Prosecco which represents a case study also for other Made in Italy sectors - declares the managing director of Veronafiere, Maurizio Danese -. In 2022, Italian sparkling wines reached 168 destinations: an increasingly global dimension that is reflected in the scale of international representation at Vinitaly, with the record number of top buyers hosted this year and a strongly business-oriented event".

Today – notes the Uiv-Vinitaly Observatory – sparkling wine accounts for 24% of total export volume, a share that was 14% in 2015 alone, and even 7% in 2010. Today bubbles are the first product exported to public squares key players such as the UK (44% share against 9% in 2010), France (49% against 12%), Russia (44%), Belgium (39% against 17% 12 years earlier), Austria (33%). In the USA, the first market by value, sparkling wines with a market share of 33% are only behind whites (36%) but ahead of reds (24%). Just seven years earlier, bubbles were 17% against 45% for whites and 30% for reds.