Italian sparkling wines overtake French bubbly in USA

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 18 - Chicago, 18 October 2024. Italian sparkling wines have overtaken French bubbly in the USA not only by volume but - for the first time - even by value. This performance was revealed - on the eve of Vinitaly.USA (Chicago, October 20-21) - by Uiv-Vinitaly Observatory analysis of SipSource data for August, which will be presented during the first overseas trade fair entirely dedicated to Italian wine.
    This historic overtaking, as evidenced after monitoring effective wine sales by US distributors, marks A change in leadership in the sparkling wine segment, with Italy seeing its market share improve to 35% against 31% for France and 28% for American sparkling wines.
    This milestone - as the Observatory pointed out - was achieved above all thanks to the unstoppable performance of Prosecco, which by no coincidence has simultaneously caught up with and overtaken Champagne for the first time (28% vs 26% for their respective market shares). Prosecco's success is reflected in the performance of the entire range of Italian sparkling wines that have now moved ahead of white wines in the Italian wine offering mix. Today, sparkling wines cover 37% of Made in Italy sales in the USA (35% by volume). Between January and August, Italian sparkling wines were the only ones that managed to increase sales volumes (+1.5% against an overall average for sparkling sales down by 13%), driven not the least by the growing popularity of cocktails. Even the neck and neck contest between Prosecco and Champagne was one-sided this year: +2.2% trend over the first 8 months of 2024 for the Italy's most famous bubbles compared to -15.3% for the French symbol of luxury.
    The Navy Pier exhibition center in Chicago will host more than 230 companies over 13,000 sq.m. of exhibition space; more than 1650 labels of still and sparkling wine for tastings.
    "We have high expectations for this trade fair," said Maurizio Danese, Managing Director of Veronafiere, "which are especially shared by the 230 Italian companies joining us here. Making business easier is more than ever the keyword today. We are convinced that Vinitaly.USA can become the landmark trade fair for monitoring this market and a fundamental lever for increasing profiled incoming operators attending Vinitaly in Verona." It is no coincidence that Vinitaly.USA with ITA-Italian Trade Agency will see considerable attention paid to market issues, with 2 days of focus events scheduled during the Wine Business Forum.
    Italian sparkling wines achieved sales of 936 million bottles worldwide last year. Over the last 10 years, exports of Italian sparkling wine around the world have practically tripled, with growth in value in the USA of 351%, worth almost 500 million euros in 2023.
    www.vinitalyusa.com (ANSA).