The year 2002 saw Italian wine exports hit an all-time high. Foreign sales (and in particular those of top of the range, high-priced, prestige wines) have never, in the history of wine production in the country, been so economically significant. The volume of exports has dropped slightly. The amount of Italian wine sold abroad last year fell by 1.2 percent compared to 2001, (15,190,000 hl against 15,370,637 hl) and is clearly down from the 1999 record total of 18,319,830 hl. However, the commercial value of foreign sales grew by a generous 6.8 percent in 2002, rising from the previous year's Euro 2,556,249,000 to Euro 2,279,089,000. Italian premium wine is becoming more and more export oriented, especially in the case of high profile labels...