Italians drink less wine but better

I wine consumers in Italy they are just under 30 million people55% of the population. The numbers in the last five years are stable, while broadening our gaze to the first decade of the new millennium (2011), there is even a growth of over 600 thousand units. The new general data on the Italian wine consumer audience, photographed byUiv-Vinitaly Observatory on the occasion of the presentation of the next edition of the Veronafiere reference event for Italian wine (12-15 April) held today in Rome at the Chamber of Deputies, they provide a picture that is very far from what has been imagined and supported by a large part of the sector up to now, in particular on young.

We drink less, and this is true, but because – notes the study by the Observatory which analyzed consumption over the last two decades on an Istat and Iwsr basis – the share of daily users has fallen, especially recently, among the more mature groups. Today the factors have reversed in a mirror image: the 61% of Italians consume occasionally against 39% of “newspapers”: in 2006 the ratio was almost millimetrically reversed. We drink less but the audience increases. It is an evolution that reflects the degree of maturity in the relationship of Italians with wine: more aware, more moderate and more in line with the hedonistic and qualitative research of consumption. Surprisingly, it is the younger ones who are expanding the audience, having less of an impact on consumption only because in numerical terms they are lower than even 20 years ago.

The age group that drinks the most

It is true, the analysis states, that the highest weights among users are found among the mature/elderly groups, with a share of 66% for the over 45s, but it is equally true that the small group (worth 7% of consumers) 18-24 years is the only one to have seen its share grow significantly: +8 percentage points (from 39% to 47%), compared to stability in the more mature groups, and a loss among Millennials (29-44 years) in the lead. A signal for a cohort that gives stability to its consumption habits in a more gradual way, as noted by the head of the Uiv-Vinitaly Observatory, Carlo Flamini: “Looking at generational movements, it can be said that wine acquires a certain centrality in consumption habits as we grow up: if the 18-24 year olds interviewed by Istat in 2011 declared that they consumed wine in 39% of cases, 13 years later, when they were 31-37 years old, the share had risen to almost 60%. What is surprising, on a qualitative level, is the approach of young people. Compared to more “tired” mature generations, where price discrimination reigns supreme and eating out loses terrain, young people’s relationship with wine is motivated by curiosity and self-affirmation, but above all by the fact that people like the drink. In Iwsr-based elaborations “I like the taste” is in fact the first criterion of choice for the under 28 of GenZ (50%), while for i Boomers the main motivation is linked to being at the table and therefore to accompanying the food (70%).

Young people’s approach to wine and places of consumption

Another important factor in the choice of wine by the “Zetas” is linked to the sphere of the “I”: “it makes you sophisticated“, “And fashion” in fact add up to 43% of the reasons for consumption, compared to 7% of Boomers. Hence the tendency of young people to spend more on average (18 euros the receipt against an average of 10 euros outside the home) and above all wine becomes a must outside the home home walls. Here the highest incidence percentages are found, not surprisingly, among the mini cohort of young people: 97% the Zs87% Millennials, while Boomers drop to 64%. Among the most popular places, the ristorante it seems to be a favorite place for younger people: 76% Millennials, even 86% Zs, compared to around 60% for Xs and Boomers. The report Profile and attitudes of new wine consumers in Italy closes by “absolving” young people from being responsible for the decline in consumption in our country. The reductions we have witnessed in recent years are the result of the effect of two concomitant factors: the general sporadicity of consumptionwhich today also affects the more mature generations, and the significant reduction in the quantities of wine consumed on a daily basis, the so-called ‘moderation‘, which sees a progressive abandonment of excessive quantities (over half a liter) in favor of smaller quantities, 2-3 glasses a day. Moderation, such as occasionality, is more evident today among mature generations.