..and the Italians blame Brexit and the weak pound.
As usual for the Italians, being Italian I am allowed to say it, sales are down not because of the cheap and undrinkable prosecco that has flooded the country and put people off from drinking it, it is never their fault, prosecco sales have gone down because of the weak pound and Brexit.
I have been writing about the risk of Prosecco sales going down for years now and my anticipations have come through and unfortunately for Prosecco's producers, I dont think there is a way back, once the descend has started, it cannot be arrested.
UK wine drinkers have fallen out of love with Prosecco and I am certain the same will happen in the USA and Germany soon, it hasn't happened yet for geographical reasons, USA is a very big market and Germany is too close to Italy and the Sekt, their sparkling denomination, is very young.
The weak pound has affected all imports, not just Italian wines and Prosecco, but also the French and their Champagne or the Spanish and their Cava. Brexit hasn't happened yet and whilst we are used to read and hear of the effect it had on the UK, this is my first of a "foreigner" blaming Brexit for their problems.
As per the other excuses I read on the Consortium press release, they dont make much sense, sparkling wines sales in the UK are up, English sparkling wine is up and it certainly should not impact Prosecco sales due to their price difference, Prosecco is simply losing its share of the market and its producers can only blame themselves.
Prosecco has become the cheapest "appellation" sparkling wine in the UK shelves and as such it is competing with all other cheap sparkling wines. Prosecco has become a commodity, and when a product becomes one, it loses its brand loyalty, this is why Prosecco sales are going down whether the consortium wants to admit it or not.