More Than 500 Million People Toast with Lombardy Wine

According to an estimate by Coldiretti (Confederazione Nazionale Coltivatori Diretti), every year around 500 million people worldwide toast with the finest wines of Lombardy.
The latter, explains the regional Coldiretti, thanks to the important work carried out by over 3,000 companies (25% of which are run by women), produces on average more than one million hectoliters of high-quality wine. The most influential areas of Lombardy are Brescia, Pavia, Bergamo, Sondrio, Mantova, Milano and Lodi.

More specifically, in the province of Brescia alone, 90% of vineyards are Doc and Docg. Over 35.5 million high-quality bottles are produced there, which, in addition to representing a significant share of the provincial and regional economy, are an excellent and effective vehicle for showcasing true Made in Italy. It comes as no surprise that bottles of Franciacorta, Valtenesi and Lugana have increased their presence in foreign markets such as Germany, Switzerland, North America, Great Britain and Japan.
More specifically, in the first half of 2014, Franciacorta recorded a 17.4% increase in exports compared to 2013, with sales reaching and exceeding 5 million bottles per year.
This confirms that Lombardy's viticulture represents a pinnacle of Italian agriculture, with an 11.6% increase in exports compared to a national average of 7.3%.
A sector so prominent and influential that enrollment in the degree course in "Viticulture and Enology" at the Università Statale di Milano has recorded a 38% increase.