Sectoral measure: Wine Investments "W002" – 2026/2027 campaign

The scheme provides funding for tangible and/or intangible investments in processing facilities and wine-making infrastructure, as well as in facilities and equipment for the marketing of wine, which are aimed at improving the overall performance of the business in terms of adapting to market demand and enhancing its competitiveness. The investments concern the production and/or marketing of the products referred to in Annex VII, Part II of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 and subsequent amendments and additions, including with a view to improving energy savings, overall efficiency and sustainable processing methods.

The minimum amount of the aid application is €15,000.00.

Following preliminary assessment, the aid application may be approved for funding provided that the eligible expenditure is not less than €15,000.00.

Projects whose amount, following the preliminary assessment of the application for final payment, is less than €15,000.00 will not be considered eligible for funding.

For investments falling under operation type 4), relatingto the purchase of software, including its installation, for the control of the production and processing of wine products as well as for business management, the maximum eligible expenditure is €60,000.

The maximum amount of the aid application is €1 million euros. This amount is increased to 2.500,000 euros if the application is submitted by medium-sized and large enterprises. In order to maximise the use of available resources, including at national level, the PAT, in agreement with the applicant, reserves the right to find alternative solutions regarding the duration of the investment and the methods of disbursing the aid.

The tangible and/or intangible investments referred to above must be retained by the company for a minimum period of five years from the date of the application for final payment. Pursuant to Article 11 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126, paragraph 1, first subparagraph, point (b), the investment for which the grant is provided must be retained within the undertaking for a period of at least five years, subject to the condition of intended use, the specific nature and purposes for which it was carried out, with a prohibition on disposal, sale, lease and/or transfer for any reason whatsoever, including the hiring out or letting of the asset for any reason whatsoever, except in cases of force majeure and exceptional circumstances, which were unforeseeable at the time of submitting the aid application and/or the application for final payment, in accordance with Article 3(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116.

Duly justified circumstances, limited solely and exclusively to cases of force majeure or exceptional circumstances, must be promptly notified by the beneficiary to the competent provincial office and to OP APPAG, so that preliminary checks may be carried out to recognise the force majeure invoked by the beneficiary, and to issue the subsequent notification of authorisation or rejection of the request for amendment.

Therefore, for the five years following the date of the application for final payment, in respect of assets constructed or purchased using the public funding received, the restriction set out in Article 71 of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 must be strictly and mandatorily complied with.

The asset must retain the restriction on intended use, the nature and the specific purposes for which it was created. In cases of force majeure and exceptional circumstances, Article 3(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 applies, as well as the provisions of the APPAG Operational Instructions.

Pursuant to Articles 3 (Beneficiaries) and 5 (Definition of support) of Ministerial Decree No. 635212 of 2 December 2024, the following entities are authorised to apply for EU investment support:

1. MICRO-ENTERPRISES, SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES as defined in Article 2(1) of Title I of the Annex to Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC of 6 May 2003, whose activities include at least one of the following:

a) the production of grape must obtained from the processing of fresh grapes grown by themselves, purchased or supplied by members, including for the purposes of its marketing;

b) the production of wine obtained from the processing of fresh grapes or grape must produced by the cooperative itself, purchased or supplied by members, including for the purpose of marketing;

c) the processing, ageing and/or bottling of wine supplied by members and/or purchased, including for the purpose of its marketing. Enterprises engaged solely in the marketing of the products covered by the support are excluded from the grant;

d) the production of wine through the processing of their own grapes by third-party winemakers, where the application is aimed at establishing a new processing plant or wine-making infrastructure, including for the purposes of marketing.

2. INTERMEDIATE ENTERPRISES employing fewer than 750 staff or with an annual turnover not exceeding €200 million, whose classification is not specified in Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC of 6 May 2003, but is also provided for in Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, Article 50(2). Whose intended activity is at least one of the following:

a) the production of grape must obtained from the processing of fresh grapes grown by the cooperative itself, purchased or supplied by members, including for the purposes of its marketing;

b) the production of wine obtained from the processing of fresh grapes or grape must produced by the cooperative itself, purchased or supplied by members, including for the purpose of marketing;

c) the processing, ageing and/or packaging of wine supplied by members and/or purchased, including for the purpose of its marketing. Enterprises engaged solely in the marketing of the products covered by the support are excluded from the grant;

d) the production of wine through the processing of their own grapes by third-party winemakers, where the application is aimed at establishing a new processing plant or wine-making infrastructure, including for the purposes of marketing.

3. LARGE ENTERPRISES employing more than 750 staff or with an annual turnover exceeding €200 million. Whose planned activity is at least one of the following:

a) the production of grape must obtained from the processing of fresh grapes grown by the enterprise itself, purchased or supplied by members, including for the purposes of marketing;

b) the production of wine obtained from the processing of fresh grapes or grape must obtained by the enterprise itself, purchased or supplied by members, including for the purposes of marketing;

c)the processing, ageing and/or bottling of wine supplied by members and/or purchased, including for the purpose of marketing it. Enterprises engaged solely in the marketing of the products covered by the support are excluded from the grant;

d) the production of wine through the processing of their own grapes by third-party winemakers, where the application is aimed at establishing a new processing plant or wine-making infrastructure, including for the purposes of marketing.

Aid is granted up to a maximum of 40% of the estimated and eligible expenditure (excluding VAT) where the investment is carried out by an enterprise classified as a micro, small or medium-sized enterprise.

The maximum limit is reduced to 20% of the estimated and eligible expenditure (excluding VAT) where the investment is carried out by an enterprise classified as medium-sized, i.e. one employing fewer than 750 staff or with an annual turnover of less than €200 million.

The maximum limit is reduced to 19% of the estimated and eligible expenditure (excluding VAT) if the investment is made by an enterprise classified as large, i.e. one employing more than 750 staff or with an annual turnover exceeding €200 million.

Applications for funding must be submitted to the competent paying agency – APPAG – in accordance with the procedures set out in its circulars and operational instructions.

Applications for aid must be submitted exclusively online via the dedicated service available on the SRTrento portal https://srt.infotn.it/ using the prescribed IT procedure. See the user manual for submitting aid applications.

Applicants may submit only one application for aid.

The deadline for submitting aid applications for the 2026/2027 marketing year, as set by the Ministerial Decree, has beenextended to 30 June 2026.

The application for aid must be accompanied by the documentation required by APPAG in its circulars/operational instructions.

To verify that the project does not constitute a simple replacement, the following must be attached to the aid application:

• the fixed assets register, for farms required by civil and tax law to maintain
• the site layout, as a graphic representation showing the exact location of each individual tank purchased within the intended premises. The company may, via a specific function of the electronic register (Sian), obtain the site plan in graphic format together with the registration of the containers. In accordance with the provisions of Law No. 238 of 12 December 2016, Article 9, paragraphs 2 and 3, “Owners of wineries or wine-making establishments with a total capacity exceeding 100 hectolitres, who are exempt from the obligation to submit the floor plan of the premises to the Customs and Monopolies Agency, shall submit to the local office the floor plan of the premises of the establishment and its appurtenances, in which the location of individual containers with a capacity exceeding 10 hectolitres must be specified; the floor plan shall be accompanied by a legend indicating, for each container with a capacity exceeding 10 hectolitres, the alphanumeric identification code and the capacity.” A copy of the layout shall be submitted to the Customs Agency. Movable equipment need not be shown on the plan, but only in the fixed assets register.
• where necessary, the official may check the provincial database – going back up to 5 years – to ensure that the asset for which the grant has been requested does not merely constitute a replacement.

If appropriate, the person responsible for the procedure may carry out ex-ante checks on the project’s eligibility for aid at the company’s premises.

APPAG Operational Instructions No. 16/2026 stipulate that:

The applicant/beneficiary must submit the aid application exclusively online, failing which it will be deemed inadmissible, using the online functions made available by OP APPAG on the SRTrento portal (https://Srt.infotn.it/), which can also be accessed via the https://a4g.provincia.tn.it/ portal.

Please note: A manual entitled ‘Guidelines for submitting payment applications’ will be published shortly.

Some important aspects set out in APPAG’s operational instructions concern:

Each quotation must be accompanied by the supplier’s Chamber of Commerce (C.C.I.A.A.) certificate, dated after Ministerial Decree No. 40551 dated 28 January 2026.

Quotations:

• NEW: to be comparable, the three quotations must be provided either by three suppliers/retailers or by three manufacturers. Quotations for the same product are not considered eligible if the comparison is made between suppliers/retailers and manufacturers
• price of the individual itemexcluding transport costs (transport costs are not eligible);
• stamp and digital signature of the bidding company (legal representative or authorised representative). In the absence of a digital signature, i.e. a handwritten signature, a copy of the signatory’s identity document must be attached to the application.

The deadline for finalising the eligibility/fundability ranking hasbeen extended to 16 November 2026

Within 15 days of the ranking being finalised, the Rural Development Policy Service is required to notify applicants of the outcome of the preliminary assessment via certified email (PEC):

1. the eligibility for aid and fundability of the application and related requirements;

2. the application’s eligibility for aid but ineligibility for funding due to a lack of resources;

3. any partial or total ineligibility for aid, with the reasons for exclusion.

The decision is: - published on the portal https://www.provincia.tn.it/, in the ‘decisions’ section; - communicated via certified email (PEC) to applicants at the address indicated in the company file.

Two-year projects are not provided for. NEW

Completion of projects – deadlines

Applications may be submitted regarding:

- annual projects to be completed by31 May 2027.

The relevant applications for final payment must be submitted by the same dates via the service available on the SRTrento portalhttps://srt.infotn.it/, using the designated online procedure.

Applications for final payment – Annual projects

The request for final payment must be accompanied by the documentation required by APPAG in its circulars/operational instructions.

In order to carry out the preliminary assessment, as required by the same operational instructions, the following must be provided:

In order to carry out the preliminary investigation, as required by the same operational instructions, the following must be provided:

1. a copy of the bank statement showing all payments of invoices relating to purchases (the bank statement must clearly show the account holder, the IBAN, the date, the transaction number, the reason for payment and the amount);

2. a copy of the page of the VAT register where the invoice relating to the purchase of the assets subject to financing has been recorded, including the date, stamp and signature of the legal representative at the bottom (or digital signature);

3. a copy of the page of the depreciable assets register where the asset being financed has been recorded, including the date, stamp and signature of the legal representative at the bottom (asset register), (or digital signature);

4. a copy of the supplier ledger, including the date, stamp and signature of the legal representative at the bottom (or digital signature);

5. summary of purchases in accordance with the template provided by the Office for the Protection of Agricultural Production, including the serial numbers of the assets, date, stamp and signature of the legal representative at the bottom (or digital signature);

6. Photographic documentation showing the presence of the asset covered by the funding, and the plaque bearing the inscription “Project funded pursuant to Reg. (EU) No 2021/2115, Art. 58 paragraph 1(b) – Investments, financial year 2026/2027” and the identification plate;

7. Design drawings in the case of furnishings.

The accounting documents referred to in points 3 and 4 must be produced in accordance with the accounting system adopted by the beneficiary.

Expenditure documents (invoices), in addition to the wording required by APPAG in its operational instructions, to be included on purchase invoices “Reg. (EU) No. 2021/2115 Art. 58(1)(b) – Investments 2026/2027” must include the Unique Project Code (CUP), which the Provincial Administration will provide to each applicant, and a detailed description of the asset for which the grant is sought, including the make, model and identification number (serial number or model number where required by current regulations).

Copies of electronic invoices that do not include the date of receipt (notification) and the SDI identifier, available in the Revenue Agency’s secure area (by printing the beneficiary’s style sheet to be attached to the invoice), nor are courtesy copies.

Expenditure documents (bank transfers and RIBAs) must include, in addition to the reference invoice number and date, the Unique Project Code (CUP).