Chianti DOCG Sounds the Alarm
On Thursday June 15, the Chianti DOCG Consortium announced a 10% reduction of the maximum yield of Chianti grapes for the 2023 harvest. The reasons for the reduction had to do with low sales and increased expenses.
“There is a heavy imbalance in the price-cost ratio due to inflation,” said Giovanni Busi, consortium president, at a press conference following the decision. “There was 14% drop in 2022 sales compared to 2021,” Busi said, “leaving lots of wine in the cellars. The wholesale price of Chianti DOCG rose 4-6% during these years, but the costs of production — gas for tractors, bottles, labels, corks, cartons, labor — rose much more.”
To make matters worse, while sales in the first 5 months of 2023 were on par with 2022 (that is 14 million bottles less than 2021), the 2022 vintage was an abundant one, yielding close to 20% more grapes than 2021, which will likely create an even bigger glut in the market and bring wholesale prices below the cost of production.
“We are reducing production so as not to flood the market," President Busi declared. While 10% fewer grapes from this year’s vintage will likely help keep the tsunami in check, no one is expecting a quick fix: “We haven’t had a ‘normal’ year since 2017,” Busi concluded. “It is useless to deny it: There’s a bit of preoccupation for the entire Chianti sector.”
I reached out to Giovanni Manetti, President of the Chianti Classico DOCG Consortium, to see whether they were experiencing a similar situation. This was his response:
“This is a very positive moment for Chianti Classico which has enjoyed a period of equilibrium for some years now. It can be said that supply and demand are perfectly balanced, and this is one of the reasons that we do not foresee any need for yield reductions.”
The other reason Manetti gave is that Chianti Classico is a much smaller region with a much lower yield than Chianti DOCG: “Chianti Classico DOCG produces an average of 35 to 37 million bottles per year from approximately 7000 hectares of vineyard, which is already one of the lowest yields in Italy. It is only by this that can we understand the correct level of our production.”
Alan Tardi
