Citra, founded in 1973, is Abruzzo’s premier wine cooperative comprising eight wineries and 3,000 winegrower families. Producing 30 million bottles annually and exporting to over 50 countries, the cooperative balances traditional terroir with modern sustainability practices, achieving €62 million in 2024 revenues while maintaining strong territorial identity.
Citra is not just a winery: it is a system. Born in 1973 and currently composed of eight wineries in the province of Chieti, the cooperative has written an important page for Abruzzo viticulture in recent years: over 30 million bottles produced in 2024, distribution in more than 50 countries and a model that brings together 3,000 families of winegrowers.
Behind the numbers lies a precise choice: making territorial identity, those vineyards that stretch “between the Adriatic Sea and Majella”, the strategic lever to compete in global markets.
Citra’s story always starts from the landscape: lands with different microclimates, favorable thermal variations and a biodiversity that the company defines as a primary resource. But there is no terroir without care: it is the 3,000 families of winegrowers, the “artisanal” soul of the group, who guarantee qualitative continuity, while the cooperative structure provides supply chain control, technologies and commercial strategies. The result is a balance, not obvious, between production scale and attention to detail.
“Our Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is the most poured worldwide,” proudly emphasizes Citra’s President, Sandro Spella. “In 2023 we celebrated our 50th anniversary: an important milestone in our journey, which has positioned us as one of the most solid and structured wineries in central-southern Italy, we are a company with a strong identity bond between people and their territory of belonging.”
Numbers that matter and tangible sustainability
The 2024 consolidated financial statement tells an important leap: 62 million euros in consolidated revenues and 55% growth over the last three years. “These results”, remarks General Director, Fabio De Dominicis, “are not a simple commercial victory, they are the consequence of precise choices: diversification of lines, export control (which represents a significant share of revenues) and a certified transparency policy (from accounting control to carbon and water footprint reports). No less significant is the data on economic return to the supply chain: in 2024 Citra redistributed 79% of turnover to its stakeholders, testimony to a model that wants to guarantee income and social sustainability.”
Citra has invested in concrete interventions:
- bottling lines powered by photovoltaic systems,
- carbon and water footprint reporting,
- lighter packaging and organic and “sulphite free” lines. The attention has been officially recognized with evidence of Equalitas certification and control processes by third parties. It’s not marketing: these are choices that affect costs, the work of members and the image abroad, a bet that seems to pay off in the long term.
Product innovation: the new CAOS line
Citra knows how to tell tradition (Montepulciano d’Abruzzo as a flagship) but also knows how to read changes in consumption. The response is twofold: premium lines, designed for Horeca and catering (Ferzo, Fenaroli Metodo Classico, Trabocco Doc), and mass lines studied for large-scale distribution and new consumption styles.
In 2025 CAOS was born, a brand-line composed of three Terre d’Abruzzo IGT (White, Rosé, Red) designed as an easy-drinking, versatile product focused on emotion and immediate accessibility. It is an example of how the group is architecting an offer that ranges from the value of territorial expression to the need for freshness and drinkability of the modern consumer.
“Uncorking a bottle of CAOS – remarks Donato Nasuti, Citra’s Export Director – means accepting surprise, living the moment, a tasting carpe diem. Each sip is different and unrepeatable, CAOS wines are for those who challenge order and create new sensory horizons, fresh, pleasant, easy-drinking wines. CAOS bottles are both for those who love sharing wine with family, with friends… but also for those who choose to take a moment all for themselves. For those who let themselves be inspired, for those who love experimenting and especially those who love tasting without pretense for the pure pleasure of a good glass.”
Governance and cohesion: cooperation as strategic force
The reconfirmation of Sandro Spella as president and continuity appointments for the governing bodies mark the will to maintain a winning and stable course. This is data that, combined with external certification of financial statements (PricewaterhouseCoopers since 2019), builds trust in markets and institutions. But the real guarantee remains the community of members: for Citra, cooperation is not just a legal form, but an instrument to distribute value and keep the supply chain firm in difficulties.
This is demonstrated by the words of President Sandro Spella himself who, aware of the essential importance of members, urges strong unity, a strong spirit of harmony, working together and united to contribute with one’s own work to achieving a common and higher purpose: “Differences of thought and views that, sometimes, may seem like a limit or cause of decision-making and, consequently, operational slowdowns, although initially they may also imply conflicts, are a source of deepening and enrichment, unanimous thinking is much more dangerous.”
Through frank and constructive dialogue, and rowing all in the same direction, (aware of the history, solidity and strengths of our company) we can face not only internal divergences, but above all the challenges that await us and, I take inspiration from a phrase by Sallust, very significant and emblematic: Concordia parvae res crescunt, discordia maximae dilabuntur (trans. “in harmony even small things grow, in contrast even the greatest fade away”), it fully expresses the essence of our cooperation.
The challenges: climate, consumption and unstable markets
The present and future bring concrete obstacles: climate change, consumption contractions in some markets and possible external tariff scenarios. Citra’s strategy seems aligned however: diversify the offer, invest in sustainability to mitigate physical and reputational risks, strengthen export where demand rewards identity and quality/price ratio. It is a balance challenge – between terroir protection and international competitiveness – that will require planning and flexibility.
A brand that speaks of Abruzzo
If in pragmatic terms Citra is today a large-scale production and commercial machine, its most authentic value remains the ability to transmit a story: men and women who guard vineyards, a landscape that unites sea and mountain, practices that seek to combine modernity and respect for the soil. As the President himself emphasizes, “Our Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is the most poured worldwide”: it is a phrase that recalls pride, but also responsibility – that of being the standard-bearer of a territory that has much to tell.
Citra thus represents an exemplary case: an imposing cooperative reality that does not renounce the bond with the land, that measures its growth with social, environmental and economic indicators and that modulates the offer according to contemporary tastes without betraying its roots.
Key points
- Citra operates eight wineries with 3,000 winegrower families producing 30 million bottles annually
- The cooperative exports to over 50 countries with €62 million consolidated revenues in 2024
- Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is their flagship wine, being the most poured worldwide
- New CAOS line targets modern consumers with easy-drinking, versatile Terre d’Abruzzo wines
- Certified sustainability includes photovoltaic systems, carbon footprint reporting, and organic production
