Prosecco consortia plan a careful supply increase for the next harvest.

While many Italian wine regions are weighing lower yields, vine pullouts and other emergency tools to curb supply, the Prosecco industry is preparing for selective growth.

That difference was on display at a recent meeting in Conegliano, in the heart of the Veneto sparkling wine zone, where growers, producers and trade groups gathered to discuss the next harvest and the long-term direction of the three Prosecco denominations: Prosecco DOC, Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG and Asolo Prosecco Superiore DOCG. The tone was notably different from the one now heard across much of Italy’s wine sector, where weak consumption and oversupply have pushed many regions into defensive planning.

In Conegliano, the debate centered less on cutting production than on how to manage supply without damaging prices, reputation or grower income. The three consortia said they want to regulate volumes in a more deliberate way, using storage, harvest reserves and targeted production measures to protect value rather than respond to a crisis after the fact.

The backdrop is a global wine market that remains under pressure. Tiziana Sarnari, an analyst at Ismea, the public agricultural market institute, told the meeting that world wine consumption has fallen 8% over the past decade and 2.8% in the last year alone. She said the sector is being reshaped by changing consumer tastes and rising attention to sustainability.

Even so, the market has continued to favor some categories over others. According to Sarnari, white wines, sparkling wines and appellation-based products have gained ground, while red wines have steadily lost share. White wines now account for about 62% of Italy’s production, up from 53% a decade ago, she said, while the share of red wines fell from 45% to 36% over the same period. Sparkling wine has become one of Italy’s strongest export engines, with estimated production of 7.7 million hectoliters and a leading position in world exports.

That trend helps explain why Prosecco stands apart. Italy produced 44 million hectoliters of wine in 2025 and remains the world leader by volume, Sarnari said, but the center of gravity has shifted sharply toward the northeast. With only 22% of the country’s vineyard area, that part of Italy produces 34% of the national total and accounts for 54% of the value of bottled geographical indication wines and 48% of national wine exports by volume and value.

Within that landscape, the Prosecco system has become the main growth driver. Sarnari said the three denominations together reached 5.886 million hectoliters and €1.181 billion in value in 2024, and volumes rose again in 2025 to 5.965 million hectoliters. She also pointed to the expansion of Glera, the grape used for Prosecco, whose planted area has grown by more than 300% over the past 20 years.

The numbers help explain why local leaders are talking about expansion when other regions are talking about contraction. But the discussion in Conegliano also showed that growth is no longer seen as simple volume growth. Several speakers said the real issue is whether the value created by the Prosecco name is being shared fairly across the supply chain, especially with growers who face rising vineyard costs.

Salvatore Feletti, president of Cia-Agricoltori Italiani in Treviso, said consumer perception of value does not always translate into real profitability for farmers. He urged the creation of a dedicated economic observatory to track production costs and margins more precisely, arguing that decisions on harvest rules and market management should rest on a clearer picture of farm economics.

That concern was echoed by consortium leaders, though each framed it differently. Giancarlo Guidolin, president of the Prosecco DOC consortium, said the consortium’s role is to match supply to demand and keep prices stable. He said that function is essential not only for defending the value of the wine, but also for distributing that value more evenly from vineyard to bottler.

Franco Adami, president of the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG consortium, warned that the biggest risk to Prosecco could come from within the category itself if success is not managed carefully. He argued that the region should not chase growth at any cost and said the different identities within the broader Prosecco family need to remain clear to consumers. He also presented a proposal meant to help protect so-called heroic vineyards, the steep hillside sites with slopes above 30% that are expensive to farm and cannot easily be mechanized. The measure would give special treatment to those vineyards in harvest management, with the aim of preserving both grower income and a historic landscape tied to wine tourism.

Michele Noal, president of the Asolo and Montello consortium, emphasized cooperation among the three consortia. He pointed to their shared sustainability office and said the future depends on linking the bottle more closely to the place it comes from. For him, wine tourism is part of that strategy: the goal is to make the memory of visiting the territory part of what consumers buy when they open a bottle. He also said market conditions had improved from April onward, prompting the consortium to seek the release of harvest reserves so it can approach export markets with more confidence.

The discussion also had a political and regulatory edge. Domenico Mastrogiovanni, who oversees wine policy for the national Cia farmers’ group, said new European rules on geographical indications and an updated Italian decree on wine consortia are shifting the focus from the product itself to the reputation of the territory behind it. In that context, he suggested that the current structure of one broad Prosecco family governed by three separate consortia could become a weakness if it produces fragmented environmental, social and economic policies.

His argument was not that the denominations should lose their identities, but that they may need a more unified strategy in how they communicate with consumers and younger drinkers and in how they manage sustainability, tourism and market access. The issue matters beyond Italian wine because Prosecco is one of the most visible sparkling categories in the global beverage business. Decisions on how much wine reaches the market, how it is priced and how the category presents itself abroad can affect retailers, restaurants, importers and competing sparkling wine producers in several countries.

The most immediate question, however, is the coming harvest. For Prosecco DOC, the consortium has asked to use administrative storage in the usual 15-to-18-ton-per-hectare band, along with an extraordinary draw on 2,000 hectares that could add a potential 300,000 hectoliters of eligible wine. It also expects the release in September of wine held in 2025 storage. In Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG, the consortium has proposed special treatment for vineyards on slopes above 30%, tied to a full yield of 135 quintals per hectare, as part of its support for high-cost hillside sites. In Asolo and Montello, the consortium plans to activate a draw on 180 hectares for Prosecco and expects a near-term release of the 2025 harvest reserve.

Taken together, those measures would increase available supply in a planned way, the opposite of what many other Italian wine areas are considering. That contrast has made Prosecco a test case for whether a leading appellation can keep growing while trying to avoid the price erosion and brand dilution that often follow rapid expansion.

Cristiano Fini, the national president of Cia-Agricoltori Italiani, said export growth could come from Mercosur countries and India, though he warned that both markets will require careful preparation. He also turned attention back to Italy’s home market, criticizing restaurant markups that can push a bottle selling for €5 at the winery to €30 or €40 on a wine list. He said that kind of pricing is driving younger consumers away from wine at a time when the industry is already under pressure to hold their attention.