The shareholders’ meeting of the Consorzio di Tutela del Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco D.O.C.G. was held late yesterday afternoon at the Careni Cinema in Pieve di Soligo. Over a hundred of the Consortium’s members were present, whilst others followed it from their companies via Zoom; on the agenda was the analysis and resulting decisions regarding the progress of the Denomination and the measures for controlling supply of the product for the 2020 vintage.

There to welcome the producers was the President of the Consortium, Innocente Nardi, who, after presenting the figures that portray the state of the Denominazione from the point of view of the potential yields from the 2020 harvest and the data regarding bottling carried out in the first six months of 2020, illustrated the proposals regarding the measures to be adopted for the 2020 harvest, as had been previously discussed by the Consortium’s Board of Directors. Also speaking in support of these proposals were Professor Eugenio Pomarici and Professor Vasco Boatto of the Interdepartmental Centre for Research in Viticulture and Oenology in Conegliano, who presented the results of their study on trends in the national and international wine markets and highlighted the strategic importance of maintaining the positioning of the Denomination in the marketplace.  

This was followed by an involved and proactive discussion on the part of the shareholders, at the end of which the meeting approved – by a large majority – the adoption of the following measures for the 2020 vintage:

– Reduction of the permitted yield

– for all types of products of the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco D.O.C.G. Denomination to 12,000 kilos/ha, plus surplus production in the vineyard of 20% (total maximum yield of 14,400 kilos per hectare);

– Stocks

– of 2,000 kilos/ha of Glera and Pinots/Chardonnay for the purposes of blending in the basic types of wine; 

– of 1,000 kilos/ha for the Rive category, for the specific sites listed in the Regional Register of Vineyards, and for products of the Denomination with organic certification;

– Products for the purpose of blending 

– 2020 wines for the purpose of blending (Pinots and Chardonnay) may be used only for blending with Glera, or Glera with complementary varieties (Verdiso, Bianchetta, Perera) of the 2020 or subsequent vintages;

– Constraint regarding designations

– adoption for the 2020-2021 production campaign and for the two subsequent campaigns of a constraint to claim the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco D.O.C.G. designation for all producers who, in the 2019-2020 production campaign, claimed that Denomination; for those, on the other hand, who availed themselves of claims to designations other than Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco D.O.C.G. in the 2019-2020 production campaign, if they confirm for the 2020 vintage a claim other than that for Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco D.O.C.G., there will be a ban on claiming the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco D.O.C.G. Denomination for the two campaigns following the current (2020-2021) one;

– Release for sale of products from the 2021 vintage

– products obtained from the 2021 vintage may be released for sale from 1^st January 2022, bearing in mind the conditions in the production regulations for the Rive and Rifermentato sui Lieviti (“Refermented on the Yeasts”) categories. This measure will necessitate a change in the production regulations of Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco. 

“The measures that we presented yesterday evening to our members are the result of careful analysis of current trends in the Denomination  and of the possible scenarios in the next few years in the world of wine, especially with regard to our Denomination. They are measures aimed at consolidating the value of the Denomination and its positioning in the marketplace, for the benefit of the producers and of the entire region. These decisions should be evaluated with a vision of the Denomination as a whole and not with regard to individual cases” Innocente Nardi underlines.

During the meeting, the shareholders also agreed to the planning of an important advertising campaign, scheduled for the next few months, which will be carried out both in the traditional media (TV, daily and periodical publications, etc) and digital ones, with the aim of highlighting the differences and special features of the Denomination and of its terroir of origin, which undoubtedly represent added value for the product itself.