Italian "wine" is booming in the United States. Not only Prosecco, Chianti and Brunello. But also and especially low-alcohol beverages. And while in Italy people struggle to accept these labels and debate whether they should be called "wines," in the States they are gaining large slices of the market.

The numbers speak for themselves. If we refer to low alcohol products, from 7 to 2 degrees, Italy in the U.S. takes the lion's share, grabbing 70 percent of the value of sales, but it is the Americans who gain: 80 percent of the business derived from Italian grapes is in the hands of companies in the stars and stripes, who import and then resell the finished and labeled product in Italy.

To make low-alcohol products there are three paths one can follow: one can use wine as a base for flavored drinks, one can stop the fermentation of the must by keeping it low, or one can dealcolare, using specialized machinery, ready-made wine. But in our country, to date, the latter method is not allowed, although it is precisely this method that is promising from a commercial point of view,because it can intercept the health trends of consumers, who are increasingly oriented toward reducing their intake not only of alcohol but also of sugar.

Meanwhile, in the US, low alcohol wines have a global value of $943 million with 110 million bottles sold. They represent 5% of the total wine conveyed in U.S. large-scale distribution, with peaks of 50% for flavored wines. Italy boasts 70 percent of the value of wines sold and half of the volumes marketed in the States. And of the total Italian "wine" sold in the U.S. - worth $2.4 billion on the shelf - 28 percent, or 651 million, is under 7 proof. Bottles, but also cans, sold at an average price of $15.6 per liter, more than double that of U.S. products ($7), 5 percent more than the average for traditional tricolor wines. Italy among still products supplies reds (67 percent), followed by Moscato (26 percent) and rosé (6 percent). A business, however, that to date Italian companies are not handling.