Over the past 15 years Italy has lost a total of 178,000 hectares of vineyards, equal to the combined amount of land the regions of Piedmont and Sicily allocate to growing wine grapes, according to a report from the national winemakers' association Assoenologi.
This reduction can be interpreted in two ways, explained Assoenologi Chairman Giuseppe Martelli.
"On the one hand it is disturbing because while we are uprooting our vines, our competitors are expanding theirs and placing more wine on the market.
"On the other, it may be an indication that we are becoming more efficient and are eliminating unproductive vineyards to focus more on quality," he said.
According to Martelli, over the next ten years there will be a revolution in the sector, "a metamorphosis given the fact that the average age of machinery being used is 30 years old and need to be replaced to maintain production levels".
The future, he predicted, will see bigger, more efficient vineyards "and in 15 years 70% of those with more than 20 hectares of vines will have to be mechanised to reduce production costs". Farmers who do not adopt more automation, he warned, "risk finding themselves out of the market because their excessive production cost will not allow them to be competitive".
The only exception, he added, will be for those vineyards producing top quality wine.
