The last survivor: how EU vine planting quotas are affecting the Italian vineyards?

Quotas have been extensively used in the past to stabilise and control the EU agricultural production systems. Over the decades, markets have, however, been liberalised, and quota schemes have remained in force for only a few sectors. The wine sector is one of them, with a quota regime shaping the distribution of vineyards across territories and the competitiveness of the sector. By examining the Italian case, the paper provides the first empirical evaluation of such a quota-based policy on the transformation of regional production systems in terms of consistency (vineyard extension) and composition (wine quality). The analysis is conducted at the regional level over the period from 2008 to 2022. Findings show that, despite a centralised control mechanism, regional concentration and speculative behaviours have not been hindered, suggesting that quota systems may no longer align with the evolving drivers of value creation and sustainability in the wine sector. By linking policy design with broader economic and structural changes, the paper contributes to the debate on how governance instruments can support more resilient, competitive, and territorially balanced wine value chains.