The Sicilian Italia grapes campaign started a few days ago. FreshPlaza talked about it with Salvatore Lodico, president of Consorzio di tutela dell'Uva da tavola di Canicattì IGP.
The PGI area includes 24 municipalities in the Agrigento and Caltanissetta provinces dedicated to producing exclusively the Italia variety. According to the specification, PGI grapes can only be harvested when they reach "15° Babo", corresponding to 17° Brix.
Above: Salvatore Lodico, 49, graduated in Economy and Commerce. He has been leading the consortium for a few years and has been trying to modernize promotional activities.
"This campaign is looking positive. In addition to being sweet, grapes have that typical muscat flavor that makes them stand out. Unfortunately, this unique characteristic was missing last year due to the bizarre weather. The past two years have been rather negative, as 2018 was characterized by cracking and 2019 showed us unstable weather that led to an overall low quality and therefore low prices."
"We have just started harvesting this year. The market is already flooded by many types of grapes such as Victoria and many seedless varieties. Luckily, the Italia variety has gone back to having its typical muscat flavor, so things are looking good. We are currently shipping small quantities, but the campaign should become more lively over the next few days when we will start to supply the retail chains, which have already asked our packaging partners for a few promotions."
How is the consortium doing?
"The consortium is doing very well and our partners have understood the importance of the mark precisely over the past couple of years, when many risked not making it. The fact that they boasted the PGI mark made all the difference. A few became members this year and we now boast 90 partners, 14 of which are packagers. We have also started performing checks on what is out there as a guarantee to both our partners and final consumers."
"This year too, we have come up with a few promotional initiatives that will increase our visibility. In addition to ads on domestic and international specialized publications, we have also thought about final consumers. Last but not least, we would like to thank all those involved with the Covid emergency in northern Italy - the city of Bergamo in particular, but also the Lombardy region more in general, as it is an important destination for us."
Contacts:
Consorzio per la Tutela e la
Promozione dell'uva da tavola
di Canicattì I.G.P.
C.da Carlino, snc
92024 Canicattì (AG)
Tel.: +39 333 2454985
Email: uvaigpcanicatti@virgilio.it