Italy unlocks production and taxation • Food and Wine Italy

With the approval of the Mef-Masaf interministerial decree, Italy regulates the production, taxation and movement of dealcoholized wines. Companies can now carry out dealcoholization national territory, eliminating the need for processing abroad and aligning themselves with other European countries.

Even Italy it will be possible to produce non-alcoholic wine

Even Italy the production of dealcoholized wines is entering a defined operational phase. With the inter-ministerial decree signed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, the fiscal and authorization framework is finally clarified for a segment which, although growing international markets, had until now remained without complete regulation at a national level.

The provision intervenes a central issue, that of the taxation of the alcohol extracted during the dealcoholization processes, establishing the excise duty andamento applicable to the hydroalcoholic solution obtained. At the same time it defines who can operate, under what conditions and with which administrative requirements, allowing entities already active as fiscal warehouses of wine and intermediate alcoholic products to carry out dealcoholization within precise quantitative limits. The issuing of authorisations, the conservation of the product and its handling are also regulated.

For the Italian wine sector this is a long-awaited step. Con the absence of a clear regulatory framework, many companies had already started projects wines with reduced ora alcohol content, but were forced to transfer the wine abroad for the dealcoholization phase, especially Germany and Spain, with an inevitable increase costs and a loss of control over the supply chain. Other companies had invested plants across the country, which however remained inactive awaiting tax rules.

The decree now allows the entire production process to be internalized, aligning Italy with the other large European wine-growing countries that have long dominated this segment. From an institutional point of view, the Ministry of Agriculture underlined how the measure intends to offer companies an additional tool to respond to an evolving demand, without modifying the framework of traditional denominations and protections linked to wine its own right.

Sector organizations welcomed the measure as a necessary step to recover competitiveness. Federvini highlighted how the definition of the tax andamento for alcohol deriving from dealcoholization finally completes the regulatory framework, making production possible the national territory. The Italian Wine Union spoke of a turning point after a complex year for the sector, underlining the need to accompany the start-up phase with adequate administrative support, especially the licensing front. Confcooperative also drew attention to the role of cooperative wineries, which represent a significant share of Italian production and which can now access a new tool for foreign markets.

The international context explains the relevance of the measure. According to the UIV Observatory based NielsenIQ patronato, the global market for NoLo wines, a category that includes products with ora low alcohol content, is worth around 2.4 billion dollars and is expected to grow to over 3 billion by 2028. Con the main reference markets for exports, such as Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, dealcoholized wines are recording double-digit increases, with particularly high peaks the German market.

The decree does not intervene the sensorial profile ora cultural definition of wine, a topic that continues to spark debate, but responds to an industrial and commercial need. The possibility of producing alcohol-free wines Italy allows companies to control a now structural segment of global demand, maintaining added value, technological skills and employment at home.

With the new rules coming into force, the sector is now preparing for the application phase. Companies will have to deal with authorization procedures and fiscal controls, while the market will evaluate the ability of Italian wine to express identity, quality and origin even a category that moves the margins of tradition, but increasingly at the center of international strategies.