Italian wine exports in 2026: what the first-half figures really say

Italy is one of the world’s great wine exporters, and what happens to its bottles beyond its borders also says a great deal about what we will find on the shelves at home. In September the Observatory of Unione Italiana Vini crunched Istat’s data for the first half of 2026. The headline is simple: sales are down, almost everywhere. Beneath it, though, there is more than one interesting signal.

The overall picture

In the first six months of 2026 Italy exported a little over 3.6 billion euros’ worth of wine, 6.2% less than in the same period of 2025. Volumes fell by 4%, and the average price of the bottles sold abroad slipped by 2.3%. In plain terms: not only is less being sold, but selling has also meant shaving the price.

The context explains why the figure comes as no surprise to those in the business. 2025 had already closed with exports down 3.7%, at 7.78 billion euros. And the president of Uiv, Lamberto Frescobaldi, speaks openly of a “structural decline in demand at a global level”: the world is drinking less wine, not just less Italian wine.

The United States: the weight of tariffs

The most important market is still the American one, and it is also the one suffering most. Over the half-year, sales in the United States fell by 14.1%, to 849 million euros, with the average price down 7.8%. This is the effect of the tariffs introduced in 2025: according to Uiv’s calculations, in one year of duties Italian wine exports to the US have lost more than 340 million euros.

The falling average price points to a deliberate strategy: so as not to lose their place on American shelves, many producers and importers have absorbed part of the tariff instead of passing it all on to the consumer. The good news is that the Observatory expects a double-digit rebound in July and August, though the comparison is with a summer of 2025 that was already very weak.

Europe: even the long-standing customers are buying less

Things are no better in the traditional European markets. Germany, the second-largest customer, fell by 6.8% to 534 million euros; the United Kingdom by 6.6% to 346 million. Overall, exports to the European Union dropped by 4.2%, and those to non-EU countries by 7.5%. Of ten major markets, nine bought less Italian wine.

Where there is growth

The surprises come from far away. China, after difficult years, is up 19.8%; Brazil up 8.2%; the Mercosur area as a whole up 18.4%. These markets still count for little compared with the United States and Germany, but they are growing fast.

Bubbles yes, reds no

The sharpest divide is between styles. Sparkling wines are holding up, at +0.4%: a small gain, but in a half-year when almost everything is falling it is an achievement. Still wines in bottle lose 8.9%, with reds at -9.3% and whites at -7%.

It is a snapshot consistent with the way drinking is changing around the world: more informal occasions, more aperitifs, lower alcohol, fewer serious bottles at the dinner table. The structured red, Italy’s historic flagship, is the one paying the highest price.

The regions: Piedmont bucks the trend

The regions follow the same logic. The Veneto loses 8.4% and Tuscany 7.4%, two great territories for red wines and export wines. Piedmont, on the other hand, grows by 2.4%, thanks above all to Asti Spumante: once again, the light, sweet bubbles the market is asking for.

What it means for drinkers in Italy

For Italian consumers these numbers have a concrete side. Less wine sold abroad and full cellars (at the end of July stocks were almost 7% higher than a year earlier) mean more supply on the domestic market, more frequent promotions and, in some cases, appellation wines declassified and sold at lower prices. For careful buyers, the coming months may be a good time for quality reds.

For the industry, the lesson is less comfortable: the model built on great export reds has to reckon with a public whose tastes are changing. The wineries faring best today are those with sparkling wines, fresh whites or diversified markets. We will return to these numbers when Istat publishes the full-year data.

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