Italy beats France when it comes
to wine, Italian Premier Matteo Renzi said Monday while visiting
the 50th edition of the Vinitaly wine fair in Verona.
"Our wine is better than French wine," Renzi said.
Renzi said that when he told French President Francois
Hollande the same thing, Hollande replied "ours is more
expensive".
"Game, set, match to him," Renzi joked about the
traditional rivalry with France, which was outstripped by Italy
in 2015 as the world's biggest producer of wine.
Italy harvested the equivalent of 48.8 million hectoliters
of wine, up 13% on the previous year, while French vintners
harvested 46.45 million, down 1% on 2014.
During his visit to the exhibition, the premier told ANSA
that Italy's goal is to reach 50 billion euros in food and wine
exports by 2020, up from 36.9 billion today.
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