Italian wine group places three-year ban on new vineyards to boost Pinot Grigio

A consortium of wine professionals in northern Italy has placed a three-year ban on new vineyards being planted in the Pinot Grigio delle Venezie DOC area in a bid to “stabilise” the market.

The Consorzio Doc delle Venezie is suspending wine businesses from planting new vineyards in the area that extends throughout the Province of Trento, Friuli Venezia Giulia and the Veneto region for the next three years, starting 1 August.

The move is part of a wider project to raise the value and reputation of Italy’s Pinot Grigio wine exports, which was started by the Consorzio in 2017. The region was given DOC status in May 2017.

The group’s main objective is “improving and guaranteeing the quality of all the Triveneto Pinot Grigio, constantly monitoring the denomination’s figures and trends and adapting to all possible market developments,” as well as creating “balance and stability in prices,” according to a statement.

There are currently over 26,000 hectares under vine in the area. A further 5,000 have already been recently planted and will soon be used in Pinot Grigi30.000 over the next few years taking into account the vineyards which have already been planted and will soon start to produce, and which are therefore not part of the suspension.

Over 10,000 producers are involved in the measure, which the Consortium said “guarantees balance and quality in the DOC, at the same time ensuring transparency and traceability of the entire supply chain through the governmental seal.”

Requests for certification in the newly-formed DOC rose by 73% in the 2017 vintage and bottling by 50%, according to figures published by the group last July.

Pinot Grigio grown in Veneto, Friuli and Trentino-Alto Adige can no longer be bottled as IGT, according to the new rules.

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