In 2013, Prosecco sparkling wine from Italy outsold Champagne from France for the first time, and by 2020 Italy was firmly established as the world’s largest producer of sparkling wine. The Valdo brand is a top Prosecco producer, and started as a collaborative effort almost 100 years ago in 1926. Today it is a market leader through its respect for tradition, commitment to the land, and a thirst for innovation in its wine production, promotion and sales. It is the perfect product to toast success and celebrate making new contacts at the BOLD Awards V gala dinner Awards Ceremony on March 22nd, 2024.
Prosecco sparkling wine can only be produced in the Veneto region of north eastern Italy, and the best way to be sure of its authenticity is to look out for the DOC or DOCG seal on the bottle. The relatively small (about 50-square-mile) though highly prestigious Conegliano-Valdobbiadene growing zone in the Veneto region is home to more than 150 wine producers, large and small. Let’s look deeper into Valdo in our series of Brand Stories.
The history of Valdo wineries in Italy
The history of Valdo wineries is intertwined with the story of the Bolla family and their dedication to Prosecco production in Italy’s Valdobbiadene region.
In 1883, Abele Bolla owned a tavern that still exists in Soave, in the province of Verona. He decided to start producing still wines to supply to the best restaurants in Venice and Milan. It was also the year that Benito Mussolini was born, who was later appointed prime minister of Italy in 1922.
1926 was a time of unrest in Italian politics. Mussolini’s Fascist government initiated emergency powers to arrest their opponents, and serious opposition to the Fascist regime soon collapsed. In the same year, a group of grape growers and winemakers in the Conegliano Valdobbiadene region, near the city of Venice, established Società Anonima Vini Superiori to focus on making sparkling wines.
In 1938, Abele’s grandson Sergio Bolla acquired the company’s shares and installed the Bolla family as the sole owners. The company changed its name to Valdo in 1941, and since then the company has been run by three more generations of the Bolla family, all committed to quality and innovation while respecting tradition.
Valdo is consequently considered to be the oldest winery producing Prosecco in the Valdobbiadene area, and its USP is that it retains control of the entire production process.
In the 1970s it began to export overseas to supply Italian restaurants that served the growing numbers of Italian expat communities.
In 2002 a new production centre was inaugurated and shortly afterwards the company expanded outside Italy, creating two sister companies in Germany and the United States.
In 2022 a strategic partnership confirmed C. Mondavi & Family as both the national importer, sales and marketing arm for Valdo in the Americas. In 2023, the current Valdo Chairman, Pierluigi Bolla, described the U.S. launch of the new Valdo Prosecco Superiore DOCG Brut as a commitment to “strengthening our brand awareness in the US market as a leading producer of Superiore,” and that it signified a commitment by the Bolla family to share high-quality sparkling wines that epitomize excellence with American consumers.
Creating a brand experience through wine tourism
Plots of land in Valdobbiadene tend to be small, and the vineyards cover steep slopes that are challenging to cultivate with a reliance on manual labor. This means the hills and valleys of the Conegliano and Valdobbiadene wine region are not only an ideal growing terroir for the production of Prosecco, but also an intriguing tourist destination that in 2019 was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Casa Valdo Cou
ntry House provides accommodation in six rooms of various sizes in the heart of the wine making region. A host of wineries strung along a 50 mile Prosecco Wine Road welcome visitors. In addition to wine tastings and tours, and vineyard visits which can include meeting producers, the charming towns and villages along the way offer visitors slow-travel opportunities to savour local dishes and delicacies, and visit historical sites.
Every aspect of a stay at Casa Valdo epitomizes the top brand qualities of their products, and creates for wine lovers an unforgettable experience they will enjoy talking about for years to come. True word-of-mouth recommendations could not be stronger than from visitors who arrive as wine lovers and leave as Valdo brand ambassadors.
Valdo’s biggest customers
Due to privacy concerns and business confidentiality, we can only speculate that Valdo’s sales pattern follows that of the generic sector, as represented by sector sales figures from 2019.
Sales value of Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG prosecco in 2019,
by retail channel (in million euros)
Source: Statista
Considering Valdo’s international presence, large hotel and restaurant chains and distributors specializing in Italian wines could be major customers. Wine shops and retailers that focus on international wines or Italian selections might purchase Valdo Prosecco in bulk.
In the time from this breakdown of Prosecco sales in 2019, the total sales of all Italian sparkling wines grew 24% to reach 936 million bottles in 2023.
How Valdo wineries source their grapes
Valdo Wines claim their success would not be possible without the unceasing collaboration of 70 grape growers who grow the grapes and supply them to the winery. The relationship between Valdo and its grape growers is a long-standing one, an alliance based on trust, respect and reciprocal exchange. The winery offers them an agronomic and wine-making consultancy, providing them with support from the pruning stages of the grapevines to choosing the ideal period for harvesting. This provides a secure and steady supply of Glera grapes, the primary grape used in Prosecco.
Are you BOLD enough to attend the BOLD Awards V ceremony?
Entries have closed and the finalists have been shortlisted for the fifth edition BOLD Awards 2024. Applications are open for you to request an invitation to attend the award ceremony on March 22nd, 2024, in Venice, Italy. It is a truly unique networking opportunity to meet international award winners and finalists in 33 categories of digital industries and the technology that powers them. The event is supported by Valdo, the official drink of BOLD Awards V.
Further details and how to apply to be at the BOLD Awards V ceremony are at https://bold-awards.com/request-an-invitation-for-bold-v/ #beBOLD #BOLDAwards
