Regional Institute of Wine and Oil

Wine and territory in marketing strategies

Last lesson for the series of seminars, which began in October last year, on the wine system organized by the Regional Institute of Wines and Oils of Sicily (IRVOS) and the Demetra department of the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Palermo. A lesson that saw the producers of large Sicilian wineries take the stage,

Alessio Planeta, Antonio Rallo, Giuseppe Tasca, to talk, through their experiences, about territory and marketing strategies. “If in the '80s the information consumers had about wine was limited to the price – began Planeta – today we have faced with an aware, informed and demanding consumer. Hence the search, always in the name of quality, for "novelties" that can impress those who visit our cellars". A resort where cooking lessons are organised, a shop inside the cellar, are for example some of the "goodies" that distinguish the Planeta winery. The scenarios have also changed, "before they came to buy wine from us, now we need to go beyond the borders and make our product known", underlined Dario Cartabellotta in his role as moderator of the debate in which, also for this last lesson, they many students participated in the Aula Magna Gian Pietro Ballatore of the Faculty of Agriculture. Internationalization is in fact one of the key points of the work program that the Regional Institute of Wines and Oils of Sicily is carrying out with great progress. Sicilian producers increasingly know how to approach foreign markets. But there is still much to do. If the leap in quality has been made, now we need to maintain it, integrate it and improve it. “Many of our agricultural peculiarities are being lost – said Tasca – and instead the secret lies in the exclusivity of our products. It is the trump card that must go hand in hand with culture”. In fact, if “Israeli production has exorbitant production numbers thanks to technology,” continued Cartabellotta, “they nevertheless fear Sicily. Only we have that territorial appeal on which we must focus." A Sicily “that can be defined as a continent – commented Rallo – for its varieties of terroir, for its unique and different wines. We need to produce a model of sustainability that is not only environmental but also social." “Brand ambassador” is the figure we need today according to Cartabellotta who launches the new themes for next year: “Productivity in agriculture, recovery of areas, internationalisation, change and water”. In short, it will be a broader series of seminars, "but they are all themes that increase the value of our territory". Among the "teachers" of the next edition? Oscar Farinetti, reveals Professor Salvatore Tudisca, full professor of Agricultural Economics and Politics.