Italy - Trade deals whet thirst for Italian wine

Col d'Orcia is an Italian winery located in Tuscany. The vineyard estate has been producing wine since 1890 and now comprises 140 hectares. Perhaps most famous for its Brunello di Montalcino wine famous to the region, Col d'Orcia has been exporting its wine around the world for 45 years, taking advantage of EU trade deals.

Col d'Orcia has established a strong presence in Peru, Mexico, South Africa and Chile, all countries with which the EU has trade deals. A particularly strong market for Col d'Orcia is South Korea. The EU signed a trade agreement with that country in 2011. It lifted customs duties enabling European companies to sell their products at much more competitive prices. Col d'Orcia now exports more than 1500 bottles of wine there each year.

The wine's popularity in South Korea not only benefits Col d'Orcia but local shops, farms and vineyards in the region have also profited from an increase in South Korean tourists who have started to include this area in their tourism itineraries.

For Italian wines as a whole, the value of exports to South Korea has increased from a value of €13.5 million in 2007 to €24 million in 2015. More generally, Italian exports in general to South Korea increased by 79.3% from € 2.5 billion of 2010 to € 4.5 billion in 2015.

Find out more about the EU's trade relations with South Korea