My Article: Italy’s Fine Wine Deficit

I have been spending time with a lot of Tuscan wine producers over the summer so far, talking and tasting. One of the most interesting insights I have found is how bad the Italian market is going for most of them. For the most part, top producers of Italian wines sell very little in Italy and the wines they do sell are sold mostly to foreigners.

I spoke to a number of top names, and I couldn’t find one who sold more than 20 percent of their production in Italy. Most were 10 percent or less. “It’s a very difficult market,” said one.

Many don’t seem bothered. They don’t want to sell in Italy because wine shops and restaurants don’t pay. It seems sort of crazy to me. What if California wine producers didn’t sell their wines in California or the rest of the United States? Or how could Bordeaux survive without French supermarkets?

It certainly puts a lot of pressure on Italy’s top wine producers to maintain key export markets such as the United States, Germany, and Switzerland as well as Canada and Russia. Plus, they need to work hard to develop new markets such as Asia and Brazil.

The bottom line is that most of top wines from Italian vintners are too expensive for locals in view of Italy’s falling economy and the bulging nation deficit. Just recently, Itay’s finance minister, Giulio Tremonti, announced his plan to boost the economy with 16 new measures. Whether anything there will stimulate Italians to drink more fine wine remains to be seen. Doubtful.