The "initiators" of this romance are five made in Italy wines: "Blanc de Blancs Cuvee Saten", Brut, Cuvee Rose 1996, Gran Cuvee 1996 and Pas Opere. "I ahve been tasting wines since 1978, and I believe these products should become by all means a new point of reference for the whole bubbly category ".

On the other hand, during the Christmas holidays Italian bubbles were the ones to pull the most: champagne, according to a survey carried out by the Osservatorio del Salone del Vino, looses points compared to the Spumante, with 61% of preferences. An indication that finds its confirmation in the percentage of sales growth which, for Italian Spumante is of 17%.

For Christmas wine is also main player: its sales, as the holidays approached, increased by 26%. Definitely a growth owed to the decrease of expense for holidays abroad which frees resources for other goods; but that's not just it: wine is ever more appreciated and chosen as a present, with an increase for the month of December compared to the past September from 33% to 53%.

A good bottle of wine can cost up to 64 euro, against 60 euro worth of Spumante and champagne; the most popular - among doc and docg wines - is the Brunello di Montalcino, followed by Barolo and Chianti. Among sweet wines, the favourite is the Moscato Passito di Pantelleria.

December.2001