WINE, BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO BEWITCHES ITALIANS: KNOWN BY 2 OUT OF 3 CONSUMERS. ACCORDING TO WINE INTELLIGENCE, THE BEST-KNOWN WINE OF ITALIANS.

(Montalcino – Siena, 11 November 2022). Admired, loved and revered, Brunello di Montalcino is confirmed as the champion wine for awareness in Italy, known by two out of three consumers. This is the news emerging from the annual report of Wine Intelligence, which - on the occasion of Benvenuto Brunello - analysed the strength and recognisability of the 46 main Made in Italy denominations. A giant of fame in spite of a "nano-share" of planted area, amounting to 0.3 percent of Italian vineyards, the prince of Tuscan reds stands at the top of the ranking, surpassing giants such as Chianti DOCG, Prosecco, Chianti Classico and Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, and proving to be a true territorial brand.
"We are pleased to be at the top of a top five that features a full three Tuscan appellations," commented Fabrizio Bindocci, Chairman of the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino, "a result that rewards a production policy aimed at preferring quality over quantity. Our labels speak of a territory, a story, an identity: Brunello is an animator, a protagonist wine." As noted by the survey, also inquiring into the habits of the wine lovers of the peninsula, the experience among those who buy Brunello is in fact almost always based on the pleasure of the tasting (95%) and the taste itself (94%), with an almost reverential attitude in the choice (94%): values that are significantly higher than the average preferences expressed by Italian consumers.
Equally appreciated by men and women, Brunello is a wine that captures big-spending and mature consumers, both in terms of age (30% are “younger boomers”, between age 55 and 64) and skills. Among those familiar with the wine, it registers a 20% purchase conversion rate (up on last year), occurring mainly in central (29%) and southern (29%) Italy. On the purchasing front, Prosecco dominates the rankings, with nearly one in two consumers (47%) putting their hands on their wallets.
In the first nine months of this year, the total sales were almost 7 million bottles of Brunello di Montalcino, which today debuts with the new vintages at the 31st Benvenuto Brunello (Montalcino, 11-21 November): nine days of tastings with 137 wineries ready to christen Brunello 2018, Riserva 2017 and Rosso di Montalcino 2021. Opening the event are the national and international press, the Masters of Wine and selected buyers and operators. The preview continues in the coming days with haute cuisine sommeliers, operators, producers and wine-lovers.