In 2021 Valpolicella saw a +16% growth in value.
“These are excellent numbers, those that tell of the state of health of Valpolicella wines, icons of one of the most important territories in Italian wine, and that mark double-digit growth in all respects, compared to a 2020 that had already not suffered any downturn on 2019, despite the Covid-19 emergency”.
According to research conducted by Nomisma’s Wine Monitor, 2021 saw exceptional numbers for Valpolicella wines: 35 million bottles sold of Ripasso, 20 million of Valpolicella and 19 million of Amarone. We saw double-digit growth in sales, over 16% on 2020, in line with the overall growth in bottled wine, +15.3%. There was also a notable increase in production (+8.6%); a little less so the growth in vineyards (+2%), now at 8573 hectares.
The boom in sales last year mainly concerned the domestic market, where there was a 31% increase in value compared to 2020. Exports, on the other hand, saw an increase of just 8% in value, mainly due to the increase in average price.
“Among the individual wines, the best performance was recorded by Amarone, the protagonist of an authentic boom in sales (+24%) well above the national average both in exports (+16%) and above all in Italy, where it recorded +39% in value. The top markets were Canada, the United States and Switzerland, followed closely by the United Kingdom and Germany. The trend in the individual markets saw strong growth in demand from the Anglo-Saxon countries, with the USA up 27%, Canada up 22% and the UK up 18%. Above-average sales in Germany and the increasingly consolidated Benelux, both +17%”.
Important results were also achieved by Valpolicella Ripasso, which recorded a growth of +15%, thanks to the boom on the domestic market (+34%). The export trend, on the other hand, was slightly less significant, with a variation of only +5%. The main destination markets for Ripasso were Canada (22% of the total), followed by Sweden, the United Kingdom and Germany, the latter of which saw a growth of +44%. Important increases were also recorded in the USA (+24%) and Denmark (+19%).
The numbers recorded in 2021 by the denomination highlight the excellent health of the appellation and the excellent reaction to the Covid emergency. The Consortium is planning many initiatives for 2022 to consolidate the quality of the wines and to increase the value of Valpolicella. There are also many prospects for growth in exports in the coming years, especially in certain markets such as the USA, China, South Korea, Vietnam and Thailand.
The complete Wine News article is available here.