ITALY: Effortless style

With no generic activity and little promotional work, Italian wines are nonetheless finding ever greater success in the UK. Pinot Grigio and Prosecco lead the way, and Patrick Schmitt highlights the country’s other contenders.

Remember the student who was effortlessly good at everything? Whether it was sport or end-of-year exams, the points and prizes would seemingly be sucked towards them without any obvious extra effort.

Italian wines in the UK appear to behave similarly. There’s no generic campaign. There’s been little in the way of umbrella brand development and high-low promotional activity.

The Italians themselves haven’t changed – and they’re not famous for their flexibility or market-oriented approach. And yet, Italy just keeps growing. Even the recession has failed to reduce its appeal. It may even have bolstered it. Why?

Nick Tatham MW at PLB has a theory. “In my view it’s firstly because of an inherent love of Italian food and fashion in the UK and secondly because of all the chain pizza and pasta restaurants that sell almost nothing but Italian wines. These,” he continues, “are a big shop window allowing people to try new and different wines and develop a taste for them.”

Whether or not he’s right, the figures prove the country’s popularity. Italy is now ahead of France in the UK off-trade with a new peak of 13.2 million cases (Nielsen MAT to we 26.12.09) and a growth rate of 9%, meaning it is catching up on  the second placed US. In value, the Mediterranean country is accelerating even faster, up 14% to £648m in the take-home market alone.

It is, however, largely a white wine story – the near clear stuff is just under 8.6m of those 13.2m cases sold in the UK off-trade. Red accounts for almost 3.5m and rosé, the UK trade’s fastest growing sector, close to 1.2m.

Pinot Grigio power

Of course, much of that white wine volume comes from a single grape: Pinot Grigio. This, from its northern Italian homeland, has continued to grow in popularity with its innocuous character and memorable, pronounceable and obviously Italian name. And, according to suppliers, it is yet to run out of steam.

“There are no signs sales of Pinot Grigio are slowing down,” says Alex Canetti, sales and marketing director at Moreno Wines. “The great thing is that the wines are getting better as the vines get older and production has caught up with demand.” Helping its cause has been, in Canetti’s view, “the liberal legislation – most Pinot Grigio is IGT and can be grown anywhere in Italy, meaning you can turn the tap on”.

In the Veneto he says, “there is better clonal selection and as a result the wines have more flavour. Joe Public is not bored of Pinot Grigio and will stick with it if the quality is getting better. Also there are several markets for Pinot Grigio at price points from £3.99 to £6.99 and higher”.

Similarly, Tatham sees no Pinot Grigio market crash. “It’s still running which has surprised me although it is losing some momentum,” he believes.

“It’s done a good job for Italian wines as has in the past Lambrusco and before that Soave. Hopefully it will pull along an interest in other Italian white wines.”

So what’s next? As Canetti reminds, “Everyone’s been looking for a new Pinot Grigio and it turned out to be Prosecco.” (If you want to read more on the country’s sparkling success you’ll have to wait for next month’s feature on spumante).

But sticking with the still, for Tatham it won’t be any one varietal. Even the mention of Fiano fails to excite a sensational response. “It’s not cheap and there’s not much around,” he says. On the other hand, he believes in the rise of a “combination of different Italian whites in Pinot Grigio’s slipstream. That could be Fiano and Vermentino or old DOCs coming back into fashion such as Soave, Orvieto and Frascati, which have in common the characteristics of a half-decent Pinot Grigio – a lightly spicy character which people rather like”.

Canetti, on the other hand, does believe “Fiano could be the one”, citing Tesco’s success with its Finest Fiano as well as the new Surani project in Puglia – a Carlo Pasqua venture including over 10 hectares planted to the varietal.

“Some say Fiano is the Albariño of Italy, it’s soft and round but without being sweet – a style the UK loves.” He also reminds of the upcoming popularity of Sicily’s whites using indigenous varietals such as Grillo, Inzolia or Catarratto, often blended with international grapes such as Chardonnay.

“The buyers like them – they offer good value for money,” he says, also noting an ongoing gradual decline or stagnation in sales of the classic Italian white DOCs Frascati, Orvieto and Soave – where “there’s great potential but Pinot Grigio has taken over”.

Red all over

It seems there’s a similar story emerging in Italy’s reds too. While the country’s well-known classic wine regions continue to hold their presence in the UK market the explosive growth is coming from varietally labelled wines without the legislative strictures of a DOC. Essentially this encompasses the wines from the south of Italy – Puglia and Sicily – where wine production is highly commercial and in reds centres on Primitivo and Nero d’Avola, and Negro Amaro to a lesser extent.

“In the south you are dealing with very large co-ops with very large wineries – it’s like the Spanish model and as a result you get very good value. There has been a lot of development by the supermarkets in the south and producers have become more sophisticated and are now creating brands, giving more choice.”

In other words, what was once little more than a wine lake has become an increasingly commercial source of varietally labelled branded wine with ongoing high levels of investment in winemaking.

Stylistic advantages are also present in Italy’s southernmost regions and their indigenous varietals. As Canetti explains: “Primitivo and Nero d’Avola have this soft, luscious character, but in the north, the reds can be a bit acidic, and they are designed for food.” The mainstream UK consumer, he says, appreciates not only the southern wines with “well-balanced tannin but also names that are easy to remember and pronounce”.

Certainly Christopher Carson at GIV UK believes, “Primitivo is a fantastic opportunity in the UK and my number one red to watch is this one,” while Tatham states, in terms of regions, “Sicily and Puglia are both areas that are very important for the future of Italian wines.” He recalls doing “big volumes with Primitivo through Sainsbury’s last year”, and “although pricing can be an issue volume is never a problem unless you want a rosé”.

Back to the DOCs, in Chianti, Canetti does applaud the work by Piccini in particular, as well as GIV (Bolla, Melini, Machiavelli) and Cecchi.
“Piccini has added another 300,000 cases to the UK market for Chianti with an easy style and ‘riserva’ on the label – a term the UK consumer is used to due to Spanish reservas.”

Tatham, who represents Piccini in the UK through PLB explains, “Piccini Chianti has put through big volumes to become one of the leading Italian reds in the business [UK]. It’s very competitively priced and offers good deals especially on superiore and riserva where Piccini have been clever in producing large volumes of both – which has appealed to the retailers.”

Elsewhere, Canetti records the “dramatic” rise of Valpolicella prices in the last four years. This is due to the increased popularity of Amarone della Valpolicella, leaving fewer grapes for the less concentrated and cheaper classico wines from the region. “There’s not enough to supply the market,” he says.

Tatham reports a similar tale. “There is huge demand for amarone and ripasso which has put pressure on Valpolicella pricing. And we do see a place for Valpolicella in the UK buyer’s search for lighter more elegant style of wines. Certainly the retailers are asking ‘what can you do in less alcoholic style of wines without actually removing the alcohol? Well, Valpolicella is ideal, if not the green stuff of old.”

A rosé future?

Finally, if there’s one area of Italy that does appear un- or underdeveloped, it’s rosé. As Canetti points out, “Pinot Grigio blush is 80% of the Italian rosé market in the UK,” and this doesn’t represent significant volumes. An interesting and relatively recent UK phenomenon has been the advent of Zinfandel rosés – for example the Ogio and Canti versions on the shelves of Tesco.

Attempting to capitalise on the success of Gallo and Blossom Hill’s white Zinfandels, these wines are simply rebadged Primitivos. Being stylistically different to the Californians, however, and considering Italy’s proven power at pulling in new consumers, one wonders whether the use of this distinctly US name for an Italian indigenous grape is really necessary?

Patrick Schmitt, February 2010