I Vini del Piemonte, a promotion consortium, arrives in Vienna on Monday 15 January 2024 with the first edition of the Barolo & Friends event with the aim of creating new business opportunities for Piedmontese companies.

The Austrian wine market is a mature and sophisticated market, albeit competitive, and the high levels of income allow a significant share of consumers to be oriented towards higher quality products, where price is not the decisive element of purchase. Moreover, the growing appreciation that wine also knows among young people gives hope for positive developments, at least for higher level wines.

For the first edition, there will be a collaboration with the Consorzio di Tutela Nebbioli Alto Piemonte which will be dedicated the master class of in-depth analysis aimed at professionals in the sector.

The event is aimed at both companies looking for importers and already imported wineries and will encourage meetings with local industry operators (importers, restaurateurs, sommeliers, journalists, etc.) and selected wine lovers.

PROGRAMME

• 13.00-17.00: Walk around tasting professional operators (For registrations: barolo-friends-vienna.eventbrite.at)
• 13.30-14.30: Masterclass about Alto Piemonte’s denominations led by Walter Kutscher
• 17.00-19.30: Walk around tasting for winelovers (tickets here: barolo-friends-winelovers-vienna.eventbrite.at)

Why Austria?

• Wine imports are mainly dominated by Italian red wines and, to a large extent, by Italian sparkling wines.
• Austrians consume a slightly higher amount of wine than that produced locally, thus generating opportunities for international wine trade.
• This is a quality-conscious market: wine excellence is deeply rooted in Austrian culture.

• Since national production is concentrated on white wine (70% of total production), there are great possibilities for those who export red and sparkling wine.

• Due to the Germanic Wine System (unlike the Romanic System used in Spain, Italy, France), the focus of consumers is on the grape variety and not on the regional traits of the wine. Retailers, on the other hand, prefer cuvées (i.e. wines made from blends of different grapes) because they are easy to replace with similar products.

• There are no administrative restrictions on wine trade in Austria, so a general license to trade is enough and food stores are allowed to sell wine and alcohol.
• As far as catering is concerned, licenses are generally linked to a proof of competence of the commercial operator, but no additional license is required for the service of alcoholic beverages.

(source: legalmondo.com)