The Consorzio di Tutela del Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco DOCG did the final calculations before bringing to a close a year that has spared no challenges and, with great satisfaction, arrived at a figure of 92 million certified bottles – exactly the same number of bottles as in 2019, considered a record year by many.

Nobody could have foreseen such a result a few months previously, highlighting the far-sightedness of the Consorzio’s choices and proving that focusing on product quality, the value of the denomination, and on the safeguarding of the territory are not only the Conegliano Valdobbiadene denomination’s pillars of solidity, but are also the best safeguard in the most challenging economic and market contexts, such as that which we are currently are going through.

“We brought 2020 to a close with excellent results, which is particularly significant considering the year that we have had. It wasn’t easy, but we have achieved truly a historic result. The companies of the denomination have proven their ability to adapt to the situation, and their seriousness in facing, while bound by the strict measures that we have been forced to adopt, the ominous situation of the market, especially in spring” said Innocente Nardi, President of the Consorzio di Tutela. “The final result is due to a strong recovery in December, which saw an increase in certifications compared to previous years, and that offset the poorer results in the harder months of 2020”

The decrease is really minimal when compared to 2019, we are talking about -0,001%, and despite some fears expressed in the autumn due to a worsening epidemiological situation, the recovery exceeded our expectations.
This result underlines the close relationship between the companies and their market. The companies as a whole, have managed to effectively adapt to the requirements of the sales channels, in a context in which catering sales – a channel that in Italy and abroad accounts for about one third of consumption in volume, and more than half in value – were extremely limited. The overall volume is in fact due to the repositioning of the product in channels that were less used in previous years, as well as through e-commerce.

“The 2020 results confirm all of our ability as producers” – commented President Nardi – “to bottle an excellent wine produced with the masterful knowhow originating in the wonderful territory that our forefathers left to us, and that we have maintained in a sustainable way. This is a territory that has not only been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its interaction between man and nature, but which is also the largest glyphosate-free cultivated area in Europe. Product quality and protection of the territory are elements not only for which we are being recognised by increasing amounts of consumers, but also that our recent advertising campaign has helped to valorise and promote.”

The value that consumers recognize in the denomination is the result of the work of an entire community that is committed, in the vineyard and in the cellar equally, to product quality and to the protection of the territory of origin. The Consorzio confirms the commitment of the denomination’s many stakeholders precisely on the sustainability and protection of the territory fronts; it has created a veritable laboratory of sustainability, the results of which speak for themselves: from the reduction of chemical substances in vineyard management to the banning of glyphosate in agreement with the various municipal administrations, making the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Hills the largest glyphosate-free cultivated area in Europe.

The Conegliano Valdobbiadene community, which has fully manifested itself through the territory’s inclusion in the list of Unesco World Heritage sites, has solid foundations rooted in a passion for its product and in caring for its territory of origin, thanks to which this community is not only capable of supporting itself in the most challenging of situations, but is also able to look to the future with confidence.