The wine crisis: part two

Of course, analyses done by the span are as valuable as they are. But Those five issues I listed in the previous editorial are on the table with their full weight.

Someone pointed out to me that not much has changed in the new highway code. Controls have increased by 23 percent and penalties have been tightened, however. People are frightened, wine consumption has plummeted in restaurants, and anyway, the message is clear and the combination as well.

Wine is bad for you, in whatever quantity you take it, the production is not very transparent, if you drink one more glass and drive you risk heavy penalties. This is happening. Then, it is true, the greatly increased prices discourage. Also, when I consume something that tends to be superfluous, which I could also do without, in whole or in part, I have to have a motivation to purchase. If the reasons for not buying become preponderant, that’s it.

If wine no longer has a positive image, costs too much, even hurts, its production does not appear eco-sustainable, and appellations are clowns, why should I buy it? An argument cut a bit with a hatchet, but one that makes the point.

It is important to understand the context

Then, you also have to put this into context. One fact: more than 70 percent of wine, in Italy, is sold through the various channels of the Large-scale retail trade. Horeca represents, more or less, a quarter of the market. Everyone talks about the mark-ups operated in the restaurant industry, which have increased, sometimes little understood.

It would also be necessary to see what happens in the supermarkets, where wine sells in much larger quantities and where “normal” people, the non-enthusiasts, make their purchases. Because they make the market, not us.

But let’s give some practical advice.

To restaurateurs:

Around the world I have also seen other ways to operate mark-ups. A fixed figure, maybe with two or three brackets, not tied to percentages. Because, if you top up with those, price increases at origin make prices fly, especially for high-end wines.

For producers:

I understand that price increases due to the factors we know, glass, caps, packaging, transportation, fertilizer, low-production years like 2023, have had a heavy effect on production costs. However, if you just raise prices this does not work on the public. You have to communicate, and if this is not done, the image of wine will wobble, and in medium times there will be even more problems for sales and exports.

Then, in a couple of years, there will be stronger competition from dealcoholic wines. For now the “Maginot line” is represented by the fact that they cannot be made with Doc and Docg wines, but for how long? I would like to see a clearer strategy from consortia, representative bodies such as Federdoc, Italian Wine Union, Federvini, Confagricoltura and also Fivi.

One will have to make momentous decisions in the wine world in the near future, I would like to know what are the concrete proposals, beyond the usual minuets.

For consumers:

When you go out and about equip yourself with a portable breathalyzer. It costs about 30 euros. It will give you the confidence to drive. The level of alcohol intake is different from person to person. Some people reach the 0.5 mg threshold with a couple of drinks and those who are under that limit with twice that amount.

Then, begin to probe less famous areas, which often offer excellent wines at lower prices than those produced in the “golden vineyards” of some Italian regions. Or, as they do in many countries where you really can’t drink if you drive, let’s get used to a friend, in turn, not drinking and being able to drive everyone home by driving him. Trivialities, of course, but very common outside Italy.

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The second installment ends here, with the knowledge that we have only touched on such a complex topic And that I don’t have a magic wand to change things. Maybe there will be a third one.