There has been speculation swirling as of late that there could be a potential Prosecco shortage in the coming months. A large part of the worries for the 2014 vintage lie in the long bouts of heavy rain and cool weather seen in northern Italy. Decanter is also reporting that this past January, Italy 24 revealed that Stefano Zanette, head of the Prosecco DOC council, authorized producers to dip into their reserve stocks to help relieve any pressure of demand.
Then there’s the added pressure of increasing demand for Prosecco around the world. According to Italy’s wine observatory, global Prosecco sales beat those of Champagne in 2013, 307 million bottles to Champagne’s 304 million.
Despite these factors, those in the trade seem relatively calm, not revealing much about any possible problems. Chief executive of Italian Prosecco and general wine producer of Zonin, Domenico Zonin, expressed to the Huffington Post that he didn’t expect any significant problems with shortages, while buying director of Bibendum PLB in the UK, Andy Shaw, acknowledged that while prices have risen lately, “we have sufficient volumes to satisfy our current customer requirements.” Shaw also added that some regulatory changes could see more volumes from the 2015 vintage on the market. [Decanter][Photo: Flickr/ Naotake Murayama]