The difficult decision follows a global plunge in demand for wine thanks to the coronavirus lockdown, leaving a sea of unsold wine – much of it with DOC status – languishing in cellars across Italy.
Exports of Italian wine have slumped four per cent so far this year after the virus forced the closure of restaurants in Italy and elsewhere, hitting the country’s producers and exporters hard.
The pandemic has reduced demand to the lowest level seen in 30 years, according to Italy’s agricultural trade union Coldiretti.
In June, the Italian government adopted a decree allowing some 70 million bottles of surplus wine stocks to be turned into hand sanitiser gel, to help make space in cellars while easing sanitiser shortages during the health crisis.
However, many winemakers had been understandably reluctant to send off their produce to be turned into sanitiser, particularly as it tends to be the best bottles left last in cellars.
But with the 2020 grape harvest coming up and exports still sluggish, producers have no choice but to make room for a further 45 million hectolitres, according to Italian daily La Repubblica.
In 2019, Italy exported a total €6.4 billion worth of wine, primarily to the US, UK and Germany.
Consumption of Italian wine in China, where the virus first emerged in December, nosedived 44 per cent in the period between January and May, data compiled by the national statistics institute ISTAT showed.
Exports to France dropped 14 per cent and in Britain – where Brexit also played a role – they fell by 12 per cent.
By contrast, exports were stable to Germany and the United States – where punitive customs duties could affect future exports – over the same period, slipping by just 1 per cent, Coldiretti said.
Major wine-producing countries such as Spain and France have resorted to similar measures to Italy, in order make room for the 2020 harvest amid the pandemic.
