Italy’s Quality Wine Bottlings Fell Again in Early 2026

Italy’s quality wine sector is facing a sharper slowdown, with bottlings down 2.1% in 2025 from the previous year and falling another 5.4% in the first five months of 2026, according to Valoritalia, the country’s largest wine certification body.

The figures, presented in Rome in Valoritalia’s 2026 annual report, point to weaker demand in key export markets after the post-pandemic rebound faded. The data also show that the downturn is not hitting all categories equally. Higher-value DOC and DOCG wines posted average growth of about 1% in 2025, while IGT wines fell 11%, reversing the pattern seen in 2024, Valoritalia President Francesco Liantonio said.

Product mix also shifted. Sparkling wines rose 1.7% in 2025, rosés gained 5.7%, and still white wines increased 6.3%. Red wines, by contrast, dropped by more than 13%, underscoring how consumer demand is moving away from some traditional segments even as the broader market contracts.

Valoritalia said the numbers reflect a delicate phase for Italian wine and expose structural weaknesses across the supply chain. Medium-size and larger appellations have shown a stronger ability to withstand difficult market conditions, with smaller swings than the overall average. Micro-appellations have been more vulnerable to changes in demand. The same pattern appears among protection consortia: organizations tied to larger marketed volumes and broader representation across the supply chain tend to respond more effectively and perform better overall.

The concentration at the top of the sector is pronounced. According to Valoritalia, the top 15 appellations account for 81% of certified volumes, while the top 14 protection consortia cover 83%. Among bottlers, the top five companies represent nearly 19% of total volumes and the top 40 account for more than 55%. At the same time, production remains highly fragmented. More than 75% of companies bottle less than 500 hectoliters a year, a sign of how much Italy still depends on small and medium-size producers to preserve local identity and vineyard diversity.

Liantonio said those contrasts require more targeted policy and stronger coordination across the sector. He called for better-equipped public measures that reflect the different needs of companies and territories, along with action to rebalance margins along the distribution chain and address overcapacity tied to a long-term decline in global consumption.

Giuseppe Liberatore, Valoritalia’s director general, said provisional data from early 2026 suggest structural fragility, especially among smaller operators. He said indicators ranging from laboratory samples to bottled volumes do not point to a quick reversal. Still, he argued that digital tools now give consortia a better chance to regulate supply faster than in the past.

Among those tools is Tessa, a platform developed with Microsoft and EOS that processes certification data in real time and is expected to add predictive models, Liberatore said. For producers and trade groups, that kind of forecasting could become more important as they try to avoid oversupply in a weaker market.

The report also places sustainability closer to the center of Italy’s wine strategy, not only as an environmental issue but as a commercial one. A separate Nomisma Wine Monitor study presented alongside Valoritalia’s findings said sustainability is becoming more relevant in consumer choices and in consortium strategies, especially under new European rules that recognize it as part of DOP and IGP appellations.

Denis Pantini of Nomisma said price remains the leading purchase criterion in this difficult phase, cited by 83% of consumers surveyed, followed by “100% Italian” origin at 74%. Sustainability ranked third at 68%, up 13 points from 2020. He added that while about 90% of consumers know terms such as DOC, DOCG, IGT and organic wine, fewer than half recognize specific sustainability certifications.

That gap matters because consumers associate sustainable wine with environmental protection, territorial stewardship, safety and controls, according to Nomisma. Pantini said buyers are also willing to recognize a higher price for sustainable wine compared with conventional products. In practical terms, consumers tend to define sustainable wine as one made with limited agrochemical use; they link sustainable companies with lower waste and energy use as well as workplace safety; and they connect sustainable territories with nature protection, reduced agrochemical use and lower water consumption.

For the beverage industry more broadly, those shifts may shape how wine competes for shelf space and consumer spending against beer, spirits and other drinks in a softer market. If sustainability claims become easier for shoppers to understand and trust, they could influence pricing power, retail access and tourism demand well beyond premium wine alone.

Paolo De Castro, president of Nomisma and a former European lawmaker and Italian agriculture minister, said sustainability can be a growth lever for quality Italian wine. He pointed to voluntary tools under the European regulation on geographical indications that allow appellations to communicate established good practices more clearly. Certifying those practices, he said, can improve transparency for consumers and strengthen competitive positioning in global markets.

Federdoc President Giangiacomo Gallarati Scotti Bonaldi said Italy’s geographical indication system is going through deep change as consortia take on broader responsibilities that now include supply management, sustainability, digitalization and wine tourism. He said those tasks require greater cooperation among consortia, shared expertise and services, investment in digital systems and dedicated resources.

He also argued that Italy should pause authorizations for new vineyard plantings. At the current rate of 1% annual expansion, he said, another 6,000 to 7,000 hectares would be added each year at a time when market conditions do not justify it. Rather than broad uniform solutions, he called for a national strategy with shared goals but flexible tools that reflect the diversity of Italian producers.

The debate over how to handle excess capacity remains sensitive. Gallarati Scotti Bonaldi noted that France has spent significant public funds on vine removal to rebalance supply and demand but said he was not inclined toward that route if it meant diverting money from promotion or investment.

Sustainability certification itself is becoming a larger commercial factor. Riccardo Ricci Curbastro, president of Equalitas, said about 500 companies are already certified under its protocol and more than 300 are in the certification process. Together they represent about 20% of Italian wine production. He said Equalitas has gained acceptance among major international retailers as well as state alcohol monopolies in Northern Europe and Canada, helping companies gain easier market access, participate in tenders and reduce audit burdens.

The push extends beyond environmental standards into labor conditions and social sustainability. Liantonio said economic sustainability is essential but so is fair income distribution across the supply chain and respect for work. In his view, those issues will become increasingly important if the sector wants to recover from its current crisis without leaving smaller producers behind.

Wine tourism is part of that equation as well. Nomisma found that two out of three Italians consider sustainability important when choosing vacation destinations linked to wine experiences. Letizia Cesani, director of Coldiretti Toscana and former president of the Vernaccia di San Gimignano consortium, said certifications for sustainable tourism or sustainable communities could help agricultural businesses increase revenue. But she added that certifications often become bureaucratic burdens unless they are backed by stronger promotion so consumers understand their value.

Giuseppe Blasi, head of the Department for European and International Policies and Rural Development at Italy’s Agriculture Ministry, said communication remains critical if Italy wants consumers to recognize its sustainability efforts. He also acknowledged that Italy still lacks a single unified certification approach even after years of work on the issue.

Valoritalia certifies 219 appellations of origin through a network of 37 operating offices across Italy and says it covers more than 60% of the country’s quality wine production. Its latest report suggests that while premium appellations, whites and sparkling wines are holding up better than reds and IGT wines, the broader challenge is no longer cyclical alone. It is forcing Italy’s wine industry to confront concentration at one end of the market, fragmentation at the other and a global demand slowdown that many executives now see as lasting rather than temporary.