Italian wine sector recovering through high-end products

STORY: Italian wine sector recovering through high-end products DATELINE: April 3, 2023 LENGTH: 00:02:48 LOCATION: Rome CATEGORY: ECONOMY SHOTLIST: 1. SOUNDBITE (English): ALESSANDRO LEONI, Head of Leoni Wine Consulting 2. various of the chateau 3. various of the store selling wine STORYLINE: As Italy's wine sector slowly recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine, higher-end wines are out-performing the rest of the sector, industry experts say. While France remains the world leader in terms of the overall value of wine production, last year Italy was the global winner based on the volume of wine produced, according to Italian wine analyst Giampietro Comolli. This was despite overall production remaining flat compared to a year before. Nevertheless, the Observatory of the Italian Wine Union (UIV) reported last week that exports of Italian wine are on the rise. Sales to distributors in the United States, Britain, Canada, and France all grew by double digits last year compared to 2021,