Lorenzo Biscontin
The expression “splendid setting” is so trite that it has become the title of an Italian TV show hosted by comedian Geppy Pucciari, but it is really hard to find alternatives to describe the Sala Belvedere on the 39th floor of Palazzo Regione Lombardia, where the summit “Envisioning2035 – Strategic Plan for Italian Wine” was held last week.
From the glass walls at 161 meters high, even the “Pirellone”, once the highest European skyscraper, looks like a … Pirellino and the Milano view can distract from the speakers’ speeches.
If this was not the case, was because of the relevance contents covering the different aspects of the wine business. FreedL Group, which, together with Ettore Nicoletto, promoted the drafting of the Evisioning2035 Manifesto and the Positioning Paper at the basis of the summit, with a multidisciplinary approach. The thematic areas into which the document is structured are:
1. Network and supply chain.
2. Wine tourism.
3. Marketing and Communication.
4. Human Resources.
5. Markets and strategies.
6. Mergers and M&A.
To address these topics, experts were called, including those outside the wine sector, who with their contribution reiterated already known aspects and brought new elements to the debate on the future of Italian wine.
Below we highlight the aspects that emerged in our opinion most significant, remembering that the complete Positioning Paper can be requested through the website https://www.envisioning.wine/.
1. The most health-conscious consumers are Baby Boomers.
The introductory graphs edited by Denis Pantini of Nomisma reported the results relating to the changes in wine consumption behavior detected by the Consumer Survey Nomisma Wine Monitor 2024, one of the few surveys that collects first-hand data directly from the consumer and not opinions mediated by operators.
The graph shows that consumers who pay more attention to health are Baby Boomers, a logical behavior given that they are the oldest consumers, but a picture totally opposite to the widespread opinion in the sector according to which health concerns are higher in younger consumer groups. This probably cause the other unexpected behaviour: Baby Boomers again were the ones who in the last 5 years moved towards lighter red wines.
2. Wine tourism: improve physical and digital accessibility to rural areas is a must.
“Primum vivere, deinde philosopari” one might say regarding one of the guidelines indicated by Roberta Garibaldi to better exploit the wine tourism potential of Italian wine. Any strategy, however good, is weakened when it is difficult to access the cellars, both physically and, even more so, digitally.
The digital gap appears particularly limiting in a sector such as tourism, where the direct disintermediate relationship between demand (the people) and supply has become the prevailing norm.
In a vision of the near future, we must also consider the developments of the use of AI in the automation of the management of the wine-tourism offer, which will also allow us to address the problem of staff shortages.
3. Make wine fun!
Addressing the issues of communication, Robert Joseph concluded his speech by urging us to make wine (again) fun and recalled that, if wine people think about wine all the time, this does not happen for the majority of consumers.
This is a principle that has another important implication: it can be operationally declined in different contexts and different attitudes towards wine. The implementation of the concept of “fun” for those who go to a wine festival will be different from those who participate in a masterclass led by a sommelier, but the guiding concept remains the same.
4. Young people are few, so they have great bargaining power in the search for work, and they know it.
A 10-year strategic plan for Italian wine (as for any other sector) cannot ignore the recruitment of new human resources. Both to bring new and different skills, and for a banal turnover of the workforce in all phases of the supply chain.
As obvious as the statement may be, it is something far from the experience of those who today find themselves at the top of companies and institutions, who developed their working life in the opposite situation of excess of labor supply.
Bringing their experience to the field of post-academic training, Christine Mauracher and Vladi Finotto recalled the need to make work in the wine sector attractive for a generation that places ever greater importance on the balance between work and social life. In this sense the rural environment in which the wine-making activity takes place can become a competitive disadvantage. This links to the issue of rural area physical and digital accessibility highlighted when dealing with wine tourism, demonstrating how the problems are linked, and the multidisciplinary approach is a necessity.
5. Innovating in communication is not enough: innovation must concern all aspects of the wine proposition.
In the face of the evident crisis in wine consumption worldwide, the narrative that it is necessary to change the communication of wine has spread in the sector, with an approach that, in fact, saw the substantial maintenance of the characteristics of the offer propositions, just told in a different way.
Clearly this is not marketing in the true sense of the word and it is not even a path that allows to obtain that authenticity of the proposition that consumers are looking for today.
Edoardo Freddi remembered this during the summit, underlining the importance of 360° innovation.
In the product, first of all by adopting a more secular vision that does not demonize experiments and declinations of wine that break away from the status quo (it seems strange, but 25 years ago the first Gravner orange wines were panned by wine critics, to give just one example).
A vision, if I may, that is also more respectful of people and their tastes.
But also of packaging both in terms of materials and formats.
In the export markets, having the strategic discipline and strength to maintain control over the historical markets, which secure the present, and at the same time develop the new ones, to build a more solid future.
In the distribution channels, integrating D2C with intermediate channels both in the off and on trade and, finally, in the forms of aggregation that allow to increase the critical mass with which to operate on the markets, exploiting all the possibilities: from network contracts to appellation consortia, from mergers and acquisitions to consortia between private entities.
In this sense, I personally believe that the wine sector is particularly suited to developing initiatives according to the approach and principles of the co-opetition theory.
6. As beautiful as the ideas are, to realize the projects you also need money.
The summit concluded with the speeches of Roberta Crivellaro and Luca Ferrari who discussed the topic of financial strengthening of companies in the sector. A very specific and technical topic that may appear to be a niche compared to the vast majority of wine companies, characterized by medium-small size and family management, but which in reality is crucial to realize any strategy.
In this sense, all those forms of financing that allow to use the fixed assets of wineries, even small ones, to source financial resources seemed particularly interesting.
The separation between land ownership and operational management, the creation of real estate funds with a long-term investment horizon based on tangible assets (such as vineyards), the non-possessory pledge and the sale & lease back of land were the methods analyzed to improve the sector’s ability to “free up” economic resources.
There is much to do for the Italian wine sector and Envisioning 2035 has provided ideas and indications on what can be done and how.
Now the ball is in the court of the operators (Companies, Bodies and Institutions) to move from ideas to action.
