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The number of Italian wine farms has decreased by 500,000 farms since the year 2000. This corresponds to a decrease of 68 percent. This was announced by the Italian wine association Unione Italiana Vini (UIV) according to a survey by the Italian statistics office Istat. While there were still 791,000 wine-growing enterprises in 2000, twenty years later there were only 255,000 active enterprises. Central Italy lost the most farms: the number decreased by 75 percent - although the development in the northwest of the country is also above average. According to current Istat data, the region of Puglia has the most companies (36,000), followed by Sicily (30,000) and the Veneto (27,000).
Italy's vineyard area, on the other hand, has remained stable, as the average vineyard area of farms has increased by 174 per cent. According to the UIV, this development was a necessary revolution. It was the only way the Italian wine industry had been able to increase the value of exports by 165 percent in the past 20 years. The average vineyard area today is 2.5 hectares. In 2000, it was still 0.9 hectares, ten years later already 1.6 hectares.
For the president of the Italian wine association, Lamberto Frescobaldi, "Italy is gradually structuring its vineyards, taking into account the grape varieties that make up the true wealth of our wine." The path is the right one, he said, even if Italy still has a long way to go to reach the average area of its main competitors such as Australia, the USA and New Zealand, or a France whose average company size is five times that of Italy.
(ru / Source: UIV; Photo: 123rf.com)