The production segment generates a value of 16.4 billion euros, which includes the value of grape production (1.8 billion, including members of wine cooperatives and private producers), sales on the national market (6.8 billion) and exports (7.9 billion).
There are a total of 566,000 employees, including winegrowers and grape producers, working for 177.000 companies (151,550 vineyards, 14,239 processors and 11,637 bottlers). The transformation and bottling phase, which generates 14.5 billion euros in turnover, pays 1.1 billion direct salaries to staff, and also employs 1,500 agronomists and winemakers as external consultants and about 4,100 agents and representatives too.
The production chain also includes 150 wholesale (bulk) wine agents and brokers, who handle about 15 million hectolitres of wines and musts, worth 1 billion euros and a turnover of just under 20 million.
The distribution/retail chain - consisting of the wholesale trade network (just over 1,000 companies), wine shops and specialty stores (7,800), large distribution/cash & carry (54,000 points of sale) and catering/bars (340,000 premises) – generates a turnover of 9.8 billion euros, with about 270,000 employees (the number of employees was calculated by counting the share of wine on the total catering turnover, excluding the employees of large-scale retailers).
The largest part of the turnover is generated by the catering industry (5.8 billion euros, 60% of the total distribution/retail segment), followed by large-scale retailers (2.9 billion, 30%), then wine shops and wholesale with about 1 billion euros.
But how much does the "indirect" supply chain, that is, the upstream part of production, which includes the world of suppliers of technologies for the vineyard, the cellar and quality control/certifications, account for?
The vineyard segment is made up of companies that sell planting equipment (vine shoots, poles, wires, irrigation, etc.) for a turnover of about 470 million euros, producers of plant protection products and fertilisers (turnover of about 800 million euros) and mechanisation companies (tractors, harvesters, soil tillage machines, distribution of plant protection products, turnover of 730 million). In total, this
supply chain employs just over 10,200 people, with a turnover of close to 2 billion euros.
The cellar segment consists of companies producing machines and equipment for processing, vinification, bottling/conditioning, packaging, in addition to those producing dry goods (caps, capsules, cages, etc.) and products for intermediate processing (winemaking products, etc.). In all, this supply chain employs 20,000 people, with a turnover generated in Italy of 2.9 billion euros (of which 1.7 for machines, 830 million for glass, 300 million for cork closures, 150 for winemaking products), plus – for machines and dry goods – an export share of 2.1 billion euros.
The costs incurred by companies for quality control (laboratory tests, compulsory and voluntary certification protocols, government labels, etc.) amount to approximately 150 million euros. This supply chain counts about 350 companies with 3,500 employees.
The data indicated above come from a survey by the UIV-Vinitaly Wine Observatory and were published in the Corriere Vinicolo no. 11 of 27 March 2023.
