Genagricola. The Generali you are not expecting is the slogan of the advertising campaign that Generali Italia has launched during Expo, after winning the European tender for damage and third party liability insurance cover of the Universal Exposition. An opportunity to give international visibility to this aspect that is a peculiarity within the Generali Group, as pointed out by the Chairman of Genagricola and CEO of Generali Italia, Philippe Donnet.
A commitment, that of Generali, to agriculture which has deep roots: the first acquisition of Cà Corniani took place in 1851, when Generali carried out significant reclamation works.
2015 is also a year of strategic relaunch of the company, in which wine plays a decisive role. We discuss this with Alessandro Marchionne, since September CEO of Genagricola who speaks of its wine in a different way, without embarking on sensorial, olfactory and palatal journeys in explaining the quality of the terroir that make it a unique product. Not because with its 760 hectares of vineyards in Italy and Romania he is not aware of the biodiversity it expresses. This is the job of the wine expert hired for this purpose. And what a wine expert! None other than Riccardo Cotarella, President of European Wine Experts.
Marchionne speaks of it in a different way because, he says: “You cannot afford to implement projects on wine without first knowing where you want to sell it, how and with whom, with which positioning. That is why in the wine world, rather than investing in wineries you must invest in management and culture”.
And where does Genagricola want to go? “Genagricola – says Marchionne – is the largest Italian farm, with its 14,000 hectares of fields. Currently 70% of the 46 million euros of turnover comes from agriculture and 30% from wine. For us, wine is strategic and our goal is to make it grow. But that’s not all. The change that we have already begun to implement involves the four areas of our core business: rearing, field crops, renewable energy production and, of course, wine-growing”.
In what way? “We have called it farming 2.0, which means that we are focussing on a strategic relaunch of the wine sector, we are aiming to develop precision farming, i.e. we want to precisely calibrate the necessary treatments, we must develop and exploit farms according to a multifunctional approach, in connection with tourism and social media. Many of our farms are in fact situated in unique areas and also have a historical and naturalistic value not to be sneezed at. We also need to focus on innovative industrial processes with regard to safety and integrated logistics. Finally, in connection with the universities of Trieste and Venice, we have a programme of training and recruitment of young graduates in farming
More specifically in the wine sector, today Genagricola with its labels (Tenuta Santanna, Torre Rosazza, Bricco dei Guazzi, Borgo Magredo, Poggiobello, Gregorina, V8+ and Solonio) generates approx. 14 million euros in turnover, 70% with white and 30% with red wines. Two lines of development: growth abroad up to 50% of turnover with the strengthening of dedicated management and of the sales and distribution organisation, and strengthening of red wines, possibly with acquisitions of iconic wines for international markets.
In the meantime, restyling of the labels and brand images has already begun, starting with Tenute Santanna that has kept the rhomboid logo, but some vertical lines have been added to represent stylized rows of grapes.
