The real possibility of new tariffs on Italian wine imports into the United States isn’t just a diplomatic issue to resolve: it’s a strategic warning signal. In recent years, many wineries have tied much of their economic development to the American market, becoming structurally dependent on it. This exposure is now proving risky: just a few tax changes can jeopardize the profitability, sustainability, and in some cases the very survival of entire production chains.

When export becomes dependency

Chasing seemingly easier margins, many companies have gradually disinvested in the domestic and European markets, perceived as saturated or too complex. The US market has often been completely outsourced to local distributors, thus losing control over essential aspects such as brand positioning, brand narrative, and perceived value for the end consumer.

Beyond the crisis: a systemic fragility

The tariff issue isn’t just a temporary emergency: it’s the symptom of a broader fragility, stemming from an unbalanced and short-sighted trade model. A model that has neglected market diversification, investment in direct channels, and the development of new high-potential areas like sub-Saharan Africa or Southeast Asia. This strategic shortsightedness has led to a unilateral exposure that is now proving dangerously fragile.

It’s time for a new paradigm for Italian wine

Italian wine, with its millennia-old tradition and extraordinary cultural heritage, now deserves a new industrial and commercial project. Excellence is no longer enough: a strategy is needed to enhance the product throughout the entire supply chain, adopting contemporary languages and approaches compatible with consumers’ new lifestyles.

This transformation requires vision, investment, and thorough marketing planning. It’s not enough to simply “have a presence” abroad: you need to understand the markets, build relationships, communicate with consumers, manage channels, and actively defend your positioning. Tariffs can be an obstacle, but they can also be a positive boost: an opportunity to rethink outdated habits and models.

Rethinking your go-to-market strategy

Change can’t be just reactive. A comprehensive overhaul of the go-to-market process is needed: a more robust, flexible, and diversified structure. More channels, more markets, more segments.

Companies must rethink their commercial and distribution strategies: not just promotion or storytelling, but competent and continuous sales efforts that build relationships with buyers, activate effective promotional levers, monitor sales outlets, and interpret demand trends in real time.

Putting the Italian market back at the centre

The domestic market—and the European market more generally—is not a second-best option. It is a strategic foundation for building lasting value. Now more than ever, we need to reinvest in local channels with intelligence, expertise, and vision.

In concrete terms, this means:

• Effectively manage presence in large-scale retail trade, negotiating price lists consistent with assortment segmentation;
• Strengthen the HoReCa and Cash&Carry network, with dedicated lines and stable commercial policies;
• Develop direct and indirect e-commerce, taking care of the story, visual identity, and logistics;
• Enhance the wholesale network by involving wholesalers as true strategic partners;
• Strengthen direct sales and winery hospitality by integrating hospitality, experiential storytelling, and loyalty.

The difference is made by the sales force

A multichannel strategy is useless without structured, competent, and consistent sales efforts. Interim agents or occasional presences aren’t enough. You need trained, motivated professionals capable of building long-term relationships with buyers and key stakeholders.

True commercial value is built on consistent positioning, perceived quality, and the ability to offer solutions that generate benefits for the entire supply chain: from producer to distributor, all the way to the final consumer.

Product, story, market: a new coherence

Italian wine needs a new narrative, one that combines quality, culture, and economic value. A narrative capable of reconnecting the product with people, without trivializing it or relegating it to a nostalgic symbol of the past. It requires authentic content, tangible experiences, and recognizable identities.

It’s time to establish an integrated strategy that can protect margins without sacrificing value, one that builds solid relationships and a consistent market presence. Because today, more than ever, it’s not enough to produce great wine: you also need to know how to sell it, tell the story, and live it.