(ANSA) - Rome, December 18 - Italians will not be cutting back on their spending on sparkling wine over Christmas and New Year despite the ongoing economic crisis, the observatory on sparkling wines (OCSE) said Thursday.
Corks will be popped on just under 50 million bottles of Italian-produced bubbly, or a total of around 420 million euros worth of liquid fun. This is comparable to the expenditure in 2013, although much reduced from previous Christmas seasons, according to OVSE.
"It is a far cry from the 91 million bottles opened between December 8 and January 6 2008-2009, but the anticipated drop is more contained than in previous years," observatory president Giampietro Comolli said.
Meanwhile, demand for Italian-made sparkling wine continues to grow on the international market, where end-of-year sales have risen from 90 million to 170 million bottles in 14 years. "Italian bubbly is performing very well on foreign markets, registering one success after another," Comolli said.
"And it is no longer the lightly sparkling and sweet varieties" that hold sway, he added.
Italian expected to spend on Christmas bubbly
Expenditure cut for festive season, comparable to 2013