To continue to know and understand the US market, of great interest for Abruzzo and the Colline Teramane. We ask Antonio Paolini an opinion on the subject.
Antonio Paolini, food and wine journalist and Gambero Rosso food guide coordinator, Biwa jury member, co-founder Vinodabere. it, teacher (elements of Oenology) Tor Vergata University in Rome, reviewer for Wine News.
Can the Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and the C.T. still grow on the US market?
And, what must the Abruzzo wine system do to obtain greater recognition in the world?
I believe that Montepulciano d’Abruzzo can still grow if it is timely. The first point to be highlighted is that on the US market companies have gone with individual initiatives or included in promotional tours (Tre Bicchieri, Vinitaly, replica watches, etc) organized by third parties and always individually.
There isn’t a true “mission” Abruzzo & Montepulciano designed and shared and supported by a sufficient budget. The purpose of the mission should be to increase sales volume and increase the perception of the average value of this wine.
Consequently for companies is to offer interesting products and labels on that market. In this sense, Colline Teramane has the greatest interest in representing the high value of Abruzzo wine.
For the second question: for a long time I think we need to motivate the market (US or not) and reduce the price differences of Montepulciano. This continues to be a problem. The only realistic answer must be the creation of a regional DOCG Montepulciano d’Abruzzo with clear identification of sub-areas (it is the most illustrious, for its history, is Colline Teramane); it will be important to establish the bottling duty in the region to get the clamp.
This would create clarity and could reduce the phenomenon of the “downward game” on the average value of the product. In fact, there are also subjects that are not from the region that condition prices; at times, with the complicity of some large productive realities of the territory
This choice could concentrate greater investments for the promotion of this product range, aimed at spreading the prestige of this wine.