‘Prosecco facing decade of growth in Eastern Europe’

Prosecco’s future growth will come from Eastern Europe, according to Andreas Brokemper, CEO of Mionetto Prosecco producer the Henkell Group.

Mionetto grew 4.2% in volume sales last year to reach 1.37m cases. Brand owner, the Henkell Group, wants to take the Prosecco to 2m cases by 2020

Speaking to the drinks business at ProWein last week, Brokemper, who heads up the German, family-owned, sparkling wine specialist Henkell, said that he saw no let up in the expansion of demand for Prosecco, but foresaw new markets driving growth over the next 10 years.

“After a decade of growth in western Europe for Prosecco, we are now facing a decade of growth in eastern Europe – I am sure this will come,” he said.

Continuing he observed, “The development of Mionetto has been driven by the US and the UK, but the difference between the past and today is that now smaller markets like Poland and the Czech Republic are getting hot on Prosecco as well.”

These new sources of demand, said Brokemper, were connected to the “good development of incomes in most of the middle European countries, so people have more money to spend and they are up-trading.”

Nevertheless, Brokemper also told db that his focus for growing Mionetto was the US.

“Mionetto is now 1.37 million 9-litre cases and our objective is to reach 2m cases by 2020, and to do that it is very important to build the brand in the US market – it is a huge market,” he said.

Mionetto is the largest Prosecco brand in the US according to Brokemper, having enjoyed significant gains since the establishment of the brand’s own importing company, Mionetto USA.

When asked whether Henkell would struggle to supply the projected growth in Prosecco sales using the Mionetto brand, Brokemper assured db that there wouldn’t be a problem in the immediate future.

“There is enough supply for this year – we are sure that the market will not dry out like it did in August/September last year,” he said, referring to a shortage of grapes following a dramatically reduced 2014 harvest due to adverse weather conditions.

However, he admitted that “Prices are going up: Prosecco is traded every week at the Veneto wine exchange and the last price I saw was €2.40 per litre.”

This figure, as previously reported by db, represents a two-fold increase on bulk Prosecco prices for this time last year, when prices hovered around €1.20 per litre.

In the long term, Brokemper said that Prosecco would eventually reach a production limit, forcing prices up further, and therefore slowing growth.

However, he said that it was “better if this is a smooth price increase”, and noted that he believed that the DOC Prosecco, which covers around 22,000 hectares, would grow in size, but not the smaller, high-quality subzone of DOCG Conegliano-Valdobbiadene, which has already reached its geographic limits.