Wine Data, Italian Style: Letter from Verona

It was highly unusual, and very atypical, for the Italian wine world.

(Which is why it caught my eye, when I learned about it earlier this week at the 2018 edition of Vinitaly International in Verona.)

Last month in Milan, an individual winery from the Veneto region called Pasqua Vigneti e Cantine held a press conference where they shared publicly, to a room of about 70 journalists, the results of a research project that they commissioned from Wine Monitor – Nomisma.

It wasn’t unusual for a winery to hold a press conference.

It wasn’t unusual that they’d discuss their revenue growth and highlight the strengths of their annual report.

It wasn’t unusual that they’d reveal a clever new marketing campaign (“Talent Never Tasted Better”) that features young, local innovators in the restaurant, dance and art fields.

What was unusual was their sharing of research that they’d commissioned themselves, in order to contribute to the “community of Italian producers, to be stronger all around the world together,” in the words of Riccardo Pasqua, the winery’s Amministratore Delegato.

“We don’t want to just make the research that we keep jealously for ourselves,” he said. “We’re making more of a common effort to work as a system. It’s something we’re really lacking in Italy. We tend to be very jealous of our things and don’t talk to each other too much, but we’d like to set a new trend.”

I couldn’t agree more, both as a fan of Italian wine and as an advocate for collaborative relationships that benefit the industry as a whole.

So what was this research? And is it actually helpful to other Italian wineries?

Only if they’re interested in selling wine to the US market.

Pasqua commissioned Wine Monitor to study fine red wines in particular, to compare France’s Grand Grus with Italy’s denominations, and to identify promising markets for growth. (Secret’s out. It’s Texas.) More information is here, publicly available.

Kudos to them.

I love finding out about initiatives like this, from wineries to data platforms to research firms. It’s another element to add to the idea of “all boats rise.”

Please be in touch, as always, with any suggestions or questions, and thank you, as always, for reading.