{"id":41151,"date":"2022-11-29T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-29T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.xtrawine.com\/?p=41151"},"modified":"2023-01-20T13:18:13","modified_gmt":"2023-01-20T12:18:13","slug":"prosecco-why-its-the-locomotive-of-italian-wine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.xtrawine.com\/en\/prosecco-why-its-the-locomotive-of-italian-wine\/","title":{"rendered":"Prosecco \u2013 Why It\u2019s the Locomotive of Italian Wine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The sheer variety in the Italian wine industry means that consumers will always find wines that suit their tastes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, several wines tend to stand above the others. These wines achieve the most international sales and are instantly recognisable to most wine lovers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecco<\/a> is one of those wines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This outstanding sparkling Italian wine is a favourite domestically and abroad, with millions of people worldwide enjoying its refreshing taste and celebratory nature. The popularity of Prosecco is such that it has even overtaken Champagne as the most beloved sparkling white wine in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simply put, Prosecco is the locomotive of the Italian wine industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its enduring popularity helps to propel the broader industry by making customers more open to trying other Italian wines. This article looks closely at why this locomotive does such a stellar job and why you should consider buying a bottle or three of Prosecco yourself as we approach the holiday season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Huge Sales Volumes<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Prosecco hasn\u2019t always been the sales juggernaut that it is today. In the early 2000s, the wine was famous, though not to the extent that it sold in enormous volumes. Champagne still ruled the roost as the world\u2019s favourite sparkling wine. Furthermore, several Italian wines could compete with Prosecco in terms of sheer sales volume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That started to change as we approached the 2010s. The world at large seemed to simultaneously discover Prosecco, leading to an enormous boost in sales that has continued to today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How firm a seller is Prosecco?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the beginning of 2022, the Prosecco DOC Consortium discussed the sales figures it achieved during 2021. We should remember that 2021 offered many covid-related challenges to wine producers, with lockdowns still in various countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite these challenges, 2021 was a banner year for Prosecco. The introduction of the Prosecco Ros\u00e9 DOC in 2020 created a brand-new category of Prosecco wine for people to fall in love with. Buoyed by the popularity of this new category, Prosecco enjoyed record-breaking sales figures during 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, the year achieved a 25.4% sales increase over 2020. As a result, in pure figures, Prosecco producers sold 627.5 million bottles, over 71 million of which came from the new Prosecco Ros\u00e9 category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s repeat that number: 627.5 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, these sales increases weren\u2019t achieved by slashing the price of the wine. In fact, the opposite happened. Prosecco inched closer toward becoming a premium wine as it saw a U.S. dollar increase in value of 4% during the year. In other words, producers were selling more bottles and could charge more for them than they ever had before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stefano Zanetti, who serves as president of the Prosecco DOC Consortium, sums up the sentiment surrounding the wine in 2021:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter 10 exciting years, our goal is to continue to strengthen Appellation\u2019s success by planning the future of the entire supply chain, monitoring consumer trends, paying close attention to the territory and its communities, and actively involving the entire production system.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, Prosecco has achieved tremendous growth, with more to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But why is that important for the wider Italian wine industry?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more bottles that Prosecco sells, the more money gets pumped into the wider industry. Moreover, as consumers continue to fall in love with this wonderful brand of Italian wine, they will open their minds to trying other Italian wines. While we don\u2019t have specific sales data, the world\u2019s love for Prosecco has likely resulted in producers of other Italian wines experiencing an uptick in sales as consumers experiment with new wines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can see this in the growth of the overall Italian wine industry in 2021. Italy produced 50.2 million hectares of wine in 2021, representing a 2% growth over the 2020 figures. Furthermore, this production was almost 13 million hectolitres more than France and nearly 15 million hectolitres more than Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecco obviously doesn\u2019t account for all of that production. The point we\u2019re making is that the success of Prosecco has contributed to the growth of the Italian wine industry. As such, the locomotive powers the industry forward, with Prosecco\u2019s growing sales numbers being matched by increasing production across the board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Should You Come Aboard the Locomotive<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We imagine that most people reading this article are already fans of Prosecco or have at least tried the wine at some point. But we also know that there is a small contingent of wine lovers who may never have hopped aboard the Italian wine industry\u2019s locomotive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may be one of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you are, here are some reasons to explore Prosecco:<\/p>\n\n\n\n