Consorzio Tutela Soave: live-streaming together with Wine to Asia to explore the market trends in China in the post-epidemic era

May,2020

Sandro Gini, the president of Consorzio Tutela Soave, also spoke with Wine to Asia to share his views and suggestions on the development of the post-epidemic wine industry.

Q1 As Italy is one of the countries hardest hit by Covid-19, how are you now?

We are fine, although the situation will have an impact on the world of wine that can probably only be compared to phylloxera. It will take a long time to recover, no matter as territorial systems or as countries, we must think of unitary and strong promotional policies on a global level. Therefore, we applaud for this initiative created by Vinitaly and Wine to Asia, which goes in the right direction.

 

Q2 How is Covid-19 affecting the wine industry after a nationwide lockdown?

The situation is very delicate. However, we must make an important distinction between the sales channels that have been put under stress at the moment. On the one hand, with the closure of the restaurants, the hotel, retail and catering channel suffered a lot. On the other hand, wine shops, on-line commerce and GDO have had an increase in sales. Those who had already positioned themselves in those channels were therefore able to balance their sales, and even home delivery brought about unexpectedly good results, increasing the relationship between the producer and the local consumer, therefore the loyalty had been got almost door to door.

Q3 What defense strategies / marketing strategies do you think Italian wine producers and importers should take to ensure their market stability in China during this outbreak?

The important thing is to help the consumers to understand that high quality Italian production comes from suitable territories where viticulture is an almost heroic action, as the processes are often manual and there should be a research for grape’s quality, which is the goal of the winemakers. For this reason, prices must remain stable, and the strategy is to transmit the great historical and cultural value, as well as the great biodiversity, of Italian viticulture. Italian wine must become a must have because of its uniqueness.

Q4 Has your Consortium launched its promotion plan this year in China? What will be the focus of this year?

We started thinking about the Chinese market, although for now the sales numbers have not yet been good enough for our denomination, for a stronger promotional action. However, considering some close relationships that we have had in the last two years, with the FAO, the walled cities and Chinese universities which are interested in our innovative research and development projects, we think there may be a development of activities in the coming months.

Q5 How do you think the cancellation of exhibitions / roadshows will affect the wine industry at present? What do you think of the online exhibition? 

There is no need to change the way of trade. Instead, we should respond to various shocks such as the coronavirus and find a solution that may replace all or part of the conventional model in a very short time. In our work, the connection between people has always been and is still the most fundamental, but we are also ready to embrace new ideas and solutions for the sake of our denomination.