Rauscedo Winery marks its 75th anniversary with a push into foreign markets

Rauscedo Winery, a long-established cooperative in Italy’s Friuli Venezia Giulia region, is marking its 75th anniversary with a plan to renew its commercial strategy, strengthen its identity, and widen its reach in foreign markets while staying closely tied to the local territory.

The winery, based in Rauscedo in the province of Pordenone, was founded in 1951 and has grown into one of the main wine producers in northeastern Italy. It brings together more than 300 winemaking families and cultivates about 2,000 hectares in the alluvial plain of the Grave area of Friuli. As part of the anniversary year, the cooperative has presented a roadmap for the coming years that combines international expansion, sustainability goals, and a broader role in regional cultural promotion.

In an interview with EFA News, General Manager Flavio Geretto, who took office a few months ago, said his first task was not to impose immediate change but to understand the internal structure of the cooperative. He said the priority was to listen to people, study the organization’s strengths, and reinforce dialogue among shareholders, employees, and the board. According to Geretto, the cooperative’s long history is built on technical expertise, stable relationships, and shared values, and any future adjustment has to start from those elements rather than replace them.

That approach reflects the specific nature of the winery. As a cooperative, Rauscedo is not a single-family estate or a private company with a narrow ownership base. Its decisions affect hundreds of farming households as well as workers and local suppliers. Geretto said aligning goals across those groups is essential if the winery wants to adapt to a market that is changing quickly.

A central part of that plan is internationalization. Geretto said Rauscedo intends to maintain and deepen its presence in markets where it is already established, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Northern Europe. At the same time, he said the winery is watching parts of Asia where demand trends suggest room for growth. He also stressed that the cooperative does not intend to neglect opportunities in Italy, where domestic demand and brand recognition remain important.

The expansion effort, he said, cannot rely only on sales activity. It also requires a clearer marketing strategy built around the winery’s identity as a cooperative and around the story of its territory. Geretto said the market no longer rewards wine only as a product on a shelf. Producers also need to explain what stands behind a bottle, including the region, the community, and the production model. In Rauscedo’s case, that means presenting wine as the outcome of a collective agricultural system with deep roots in Friuli.

Geretto also pointed to the need for broader alliances across the local production chain. He said partnerships with other cooperatives, consortia, and territorial institutions are becoming more important because the region can promote itself more effectively when it acts as a system. He cited DOC Friuli as one example of a wine category that may fit new consumer habits because of its drinkability and generally lower alcohol content than some other styles. In his view, that profile can open space in international markets where buyers are shifting toward lighter and more accessible products.

The strategy comes at a difficult time for wine producers across Europe and beyond. The sector has been under pressure from lower consumption in several markets and from uncertainty linked to international trade tariffs. Geretto described the situation as a systemic crisis that requires adaptation rather than short-term reactions. He said the response cannot be limited to commercial tactics and must include investment in quality, innovation, market diversification, and stronger communication of product value.

His comments reflect a broader concern in the industry, where producers are facing weaker demand among some consumer groups and higher exposure to policy shifts in trade. For a cooperative such as Rauscedo, that means balancing the need to protect members’ income with the need to reposition products in a more competitive environment. Geretto argued that the cooperative model itself offers an advantage in such a period because it allows producers to work collectively and spread risk while keeping a shared long-term outlook.

Alongside export growth, the winery is also trying to refresh the image of a brand with a long history without breaking from its past. Geretto said innovation should not be understood as a rupture with tradition. Instead, he described it as a way of bringing the winery’s legacy into the present through better communication, updated processes, and product development that still respects the cooperative’s core values.

He said producers in Friuli have often preferred to let their work speak for itself, but current market conditions require more visible and structured communication. In practice, that means explaining the work behind each bottle, the role of cooperation, and the quality standards that define the brand. For a business rooted in agriculture and local relationships, that shift is also meant to make the brand more understandable to foreign buyers and consumers who may know Italian wine categories but not the specific identity of Rauscedo.

Another part of the anniversary year has been the release of the winery’s first Sustainability Report. Geretto said the document is important because it puts into measurable form a process that has already been under way for years. The report covers environmental, social, and economic actions and is intended both as a record of what has already been done and as a guide for future decisions.

According to Geretto, the cooperative has used the report to reaffirm commitments in resource management, employee well-being, and support for the local community. He also said new welfare measures for employees have been introduced and will be described in more detail in the next edition of the report. He presented sustainability not as a formal exercise but as an operational standard that should affect day-to-day decisions within the company and in its relationships with outside partners and stakeholders.

The local dimension remains central to the winery’s plans, especially as Pordenone prepares to become Italian Capital of Culture in 2027. Geretto said the initiative offers a major opportunity for the wider area and for Rauscedo Winery, which sees wine tourism and cultural promotion as linked rather than separate activities. He said the winery wants to help welcome visitors by creating experiences that present not only its wines but also the landscape, identity, and productive culture of Friuli Venezia Giulia.

That effort, he said, will require joint work with other producers, cooperatives, and territorial organizations so that visitors encounter a broader and more coherent picture of the region’s offerings. For Rauscedo, the aim is to use the cultural spotlight of 2027 to strengthen lasting ties between wine production, local identity, and sustainable development, while reinforcing the role that the cooperative has played in the area since the early postwar years.