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To many people, water is just water\u00a0\u2013 a drink necessary for survival. To Lodovico Di Gioia, it\u2019s much more.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0native of Italy works as a water sommelier at Danone SA, a major bottler of mineral water\u00a0whose brands include Evian, Volvic and Badoit. Much like a connoisseur of fine wines, Di Gioia has a trained palette, but his is attuned to the subtle but distinctive tastes and textures of H?O.<\/p>\n
He first holds a glass of water up to the light to look for any visible sediments, then checks for odours like sulphur from volcanic springs. He listens to the crackle and pop of bubbles in sparkling water, which \u201cshould sound like pieces of ice clashing together,\u201d he says. Next there\u2019s the taste \u2013 with salty, crisp or sweet notes \u2013 and what Di Gioia calls \u201cmouthfeel,\u201d which varies depending on the minerals the water has accumulated during its journey through the Earth.<\/p>\n
Di Gioia\u00a0tests waters that Danone can bottle and sell to consumers, preferably at a premium price.\u00a0To that end, he spends much of his time sampling them from springs across Europe and beyond. He\u2019s one of four such sommeliers at the company, a group that\u2019s grown over the last decade. He earned his certificate from The Doemens Academy,\u00a0a food and beverage school in Germany,\u00a0which launched water sommelier accreditation in 2011. (It\u2019s become\u00a0popular enough\u00a0<\/strong>that courses in English, Mandarin and Spanish have been made available\u00a0in recent years). Di Gioia\u00a0uses his expertise to frame narratives\u00a0\u2013 typically around healthfulness, purity and respect for nature \u2013 that will persuade people to spend on something that often flows from the tap for free.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just about quality control,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s really about supporting the development and the communication around the water.\u201d<\/p>\n ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mineral water is big business, and companies are constantly vying to win market share. Nestl\u00e9 SA, whose waters include Perrier, San Pellegrino and Acqua Panna, says that it doesn\u2019t have in-house sommeliers\u00a0but that some of its brands work with them regularly.<\/p>\n \u201cThe more consumers understand that we have a unique source, a unique way of managing the source \u2013 the most natural mineral water in the world \u2013 the more we sell at a high price,\u201d Juergen Esser, Danone\u2019s deputy chief executive officer, told analysts on a call last year.<\/p>\n The water business, the smallest of Danone\u2019s three divisions, generated about \u20ac5 billion ($5.8 billion) in 2024 sales. Its growth\u00a0has slowed in recent quarters amid intense competition and growing concerns over the environmental impact of producing, transporting and drinking from single-use plastic bottles. And now\u00a0the boom in weight-loss drugs may present a further headwind to growth, as early research indicates users of the wildly popular medications tend to drink less water than before, says Isabelle Esser, Danone\u2019s chief research and innovation officer.<\/p>\n The French company is hoping Di Gioia, who\u00a0has a Ph.D. in food science and master\u2019s degrees in macromolecular materials and environmental engineering,\u00a0can lend scientific credence\u00a0to claims that its waters are unique and full of the minerals necessary for optimum hydration. That\u2019s important for\u00a0Danone\u2019s ability to market the product as premium\u00a0and for the industry\u2019s reputation for natural purity, which\u00a0took a hit when Nestl\u00e9\u2019s water unit, which owns upscale Perrier, was accused\u00a0of illegally filtering water to remove contaminants. The water business\u00a0sales took a hit from the scandal in 2024, falling more than 4%, to 3.2 billion\u00a0Swiss francs ($3.7 billion), before recovering in recent quarters. (At the time, the company\u00a0agreed to pay the fine\u00a0to settle the French probe\u00a0while making no admission of guilt.)\u00a0<\/strong>The company is now looking to sell its water unit.<\/p>\n ADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Danone sees the premium segment as an area to expand. Evian rolled out a \u201cprestige\u201d range in France a decade ago, featuring a sleek glass bottle, that has been\u00a0priced by distributors at almost twice the level of its regular water. In 2022, the brand debuted its first sparkling water.<\/p>\n Other companies are deploying increasingly creative marketing tactics to get consumers to drink more water, from canned H?O company Liquid Death\u2019s punchy pledge to \u201cmurder your thirst\u201d to Coca-Cola Co.\u2019s smartwater with actor Jennifer Aniston to promote healthy hydration.<\/p>\n Di Gioia has worked at Danone\u2019s water research unit for more than two decades. While he spends most of his time in the lab, his other duties are public-facing. He speaks at science conferences and trade gatherings and hosts curated tasting sessions with fine-dining restaurateurs, where he pairs Danone\u2019s products with wines and foods on their menus. He draws associations between the taste of water and minerals like calcium and magnesium that are absorbed as it passes through the limestone of the French Alps.<\/p>\n \u201cI have many hats,\u201d he says. \u201cI have my background, my expertise, plus all the skills of a water sommelier that I need to cultivate.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a9 2026 Bloomberg<\/p>\n Follow Moneyweb\u2019s in-depth finance and business news on WhatsApp here.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n