Tokyo’s Isetan Mitsukoshi, widely considered to be the world’s best department store, will be leading the launch of Franciacorta in Japan. Its flagship stores will dedicate large promotional spaces to the Franciacorta brand, with made in Italy themed window displays featuring bottles of this distinctive bubbly alongside clothes and accessories.
2013 saw significant growth in exports of Franciacorta, up 14% against 2012. Total bottles sold reached just over 14 million, of which around 1.3 million were exported. However, despite double figure growth, export still represents a relatively small fraction of total production.
The brand image is something that also requires further input, “because international consumers struggle to identify with the product as a type”, according to Paolo Ziliani, commercial director at Berlucchi, pioneering wine cellars. “They are far more comfortable with selecting a champagne, prosecco, or cava. We are looking to change this and position Franciacorta as a number one premium sparkling wine choice”.
In 2013 exports of champagne to Japan grew to 600 thousand bottles with total export volumes at 9,674,446 bottles. Sales of Cava are currently at around 8 million bottles a year, with annual growth of 4%. Prosecco Doc has seen a reverse trend, with a slight negative growth at -1% and total sales at 2.1 million bottles.
Tokyo and the surrounding area represent nearly half (47%) of total Japanese consumption of wine, with Japan at number 12 in the world in terms of the amount of wine imported and 4th in terms of value of wine sales. As a percentage of total wine sales, the amount of fine wines sold in Japan is the highest in the world. This is because wine is not drunk on a daily basis in Japan, where consumption is usually reserved for special events.