Sparkling wine outpaces the broader wine slump as ProWein sees a $54.67 billion market

ProWein has released its first Sparkling Report, a new market study that points to continued resilience in sparkling wine even as the broader wine business faces weaker consumption, economic pressure and changing drinking habits.

The report says the global sparkling wine market is expected to reach about $54.67 billion in 2025. Global consumption slipped slightly in 2024 to 3.32 billion bottles, according to IWSR data cited in the study, but sparkling wine still performed better than still wine. ProWein said the category is benefiting from new drinking occasions, younger consumers and growth in premium and alcohol-free products.

Frank Schindler, director of ProWein Düsseldorf, said the market is going through a broad transformation, with new producing regions, styles and consumption occasions joining established categories.

The report was produced by A2 Wine & Things under the direction of Alexandra Wrann, a wine journalist and DipWSET graduate. It covers major sparkling categories including Prosecco, Champagne, Crémant, Cava, German and Austrian Sekt, Franciacorta and Lambrusco, along with newer origins such as the United Kingdom, Hungary, California and Tasmania.

Among the strongest performers, Crémant posted record sales of nearly 123 million bottles in 2025, up 7.5%. The report said its appeal rests on traditional bottle fermentation, hand harvesting and lower prices than Champagne. Exports now account for 41% of production. Alsace remained the largest source with about 41 million bottles, followed by Loire with nearly 27 million and Bourgogne with 23.6 million. Crémant de Bordeaux also recorded double-digit growth as producers there shift away from weaker red wine demand.

Prosecco remained the largest sparkling category by volume. Production of Prosecco DOC reached 667 million bottles in 2025, worth about 3.6 billion euros, up 1.1% from a year earlier. More than 80% was exported to 164 countries. The United States remained the top market, with sales up 8% in the first nine months of 2025, while France rose 21% and Germany increased 3.1%. About 10% of production came from Prosecco Rosé. The report also noted a move toward drier styles and lower-alcohol versions at 8%-9% ABV.

The Prosecco consortium has also stepped up brand protection. According to the report, it issued 115 warnings over misuse of the name in sectors such as cosmetics and candles and added QR codes to tax stamps to support authenticity checks.

At the higher end of the category, Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco DOCG grew 8% in 2025 to 98 million bottles produced by 220 wineries. The report said younger consumers in France are increasingly choosing it over Champagne and that Brut and Extra Brut styles continue to gain share.

Champagne showed a slower decline after its post-pandemic peak. Sales fell to 266 million bottles in 2025, down 2%, after a 9% drop the year before. Revenue declined more sharply to about 5.7 billion euros from 6.5 billion euros a year earlier. The report attributed that to softer demand for high-end cuvées after repeated price increases and supply issues during peak wedding season. It also said a weak dollar has weighed on the U.S., Champagne’s main export market.

Champagne producers are responding by emphasizing single-variety wines, single-vineyard bottlings and drier styles such as Brut Nature. The region is also adapting to climate pressure. The report said Voltis was approved in 2022 for trials and Chardonnay Rose was approved last year for a ten-year trial period. Champagne aims for all vineyards to be sustainably certified by 2030; so far, 14,700 hectares, or 43%, carry the Viticulture Durable en Champagne label.

Cava had one of the weakest years among major categories. Sales dropped 13% in 2025 to just over 190 million bottles, while exports fell 18.7% to 114 million bottles. Domestic sales declined 2.5% to 76 million bottles. The report linked much of that pressure to drought and smaller harvests in Spain. Still, producers are pushing further into premium tiers. Sales of Cava Superior Paraje Calificado rose to 31,000 bottles from 17,000 a year earlier, while Gran Reserva increased 6% to 4.2 million bottles. All Cava Superior wines are now certified organic.

Germany remained one of the world’s largest sparkling markets. The report said about 234 million bottles were sold there in 2025, down 4.7%. It also highlighted how concentrated the market is: five companies account for more than 80% of sales. Consumer taste remains relatively sweet by international standards, with 56% preferring dry styles containing 17-32 grams per liter of residual sugar and another 31% choosing off-dry wines.

The German industry is also debating clearer labeling rules for quality sparkling wine made by traditional bottle fermentation. Producers including Henkell Freixenet have called for a legally binding quality pyramid similar to systems used in Champagne or Prosecco.

Austria already has such a structure through Sekt Austria PDO. The three-tier system ranges from Sekt Austria at entry level to Reserve and Große Reserve at the top, with stricter rules on hand harvesting, bottle fermentation and lees aging at each step.

In Italy’s Franciacorta region, exports have more than doubled since 2011. Of the 19.1 million bottles produced in 2024, about 2.3 million were exported, mainly to Switzerland, the United States, Japan and Germany. The report said tourism has become an important driver as visitor numbers in Brescia province rose from 1.8 million in 2008 to 3 million in 2023.

Lambrusco remained Italy’s third-best-selling wine despite a decline in volume. Sales reached 15.1 million liters in 2024, down 4%, with revenue at 57.2 million euros, down 3.7%, according to data cited from Circana through Wine Intelligence. Around 60% of production is exported, mainly to the United States and Canada followed by Germany, France and Spain. The report said producers are trying to move Lambrusco beyond its low-cost image through more bottle-fermented wines and a new association formed in 2025 called Custodi del Lambrusco.

The study also pointed to strong momentum outside traditional European regions. In the United Kingdom, sparkling wine sales reached 6.2 million bottles in 2024 after nearly tripling over six years. About 91% is consumed domestically, where British sparkling wine is now second only to Prosecco in popularity. Wines of Great Britain data cited in the report said exports rose 35%, with Norway, Japan, the United States and Sweden among key markets.

The UK’s rise is tied partly to warmer growing conditions that improve ripeness while preserving acidity needed for base wines used in sparkling production.

Hungary is also gaining ground. The report estimated annual production at between 140,000 and160,000 hectoliters of sparkling wine, equal to about 5%-6% of national wine output. Exports account for roughly20%-25% of production and are rising each year. Producers are using classic grapes such as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir but also native Furmint as a point of difference.

In California, sparkling wine output topped110 million bottles in2024 according to figures cited from the California Wine Institute. Most is consumed domestically, though Canada, Nigeria, the United Kingdom and South Korea were listed as export markets.

Tasmania continues to build its reputation as a cool-climate source for premium sparkling wine within Australia. In2025 it harvested23,002 tons of grapes and produced an estimated20 million bottles of wine overall, including about8.6 million bottles of sparkling wine. Sparkling accounts for43% of Tasmanian production but only a small share of Australia’s total volume.

One of the clearest growth areas across markets is alcohol-free sparkling wine. In Germany alone, sales reached about22.3 million bottles in2025, up12%, giving it nearly9% share of the country’s sparkling market according to the Association of German Sparkling Wine Producers.

The report said Henkell Freixenet has recently posted double-digit growth for alcohol-free products including Mionetto0.0% and Freixenet0.0%. It also pointed to rising interest in proxies made from tea, herbs and fruit rather than dealcoholized wine.

Grand View Research estimates cited in the study put the global non-alcoholic wine market at $3.78 billion by2030 with annual growth around8%. Sparkling products account for about60% of that segment, while IWSR expects double-digit growth rates for alcohol-free sparkling wines over the next several years.

Luke Tegner, head of consulting at IWSR, said younger consumers are increasingly drinking sparkling wine on casual occasions beyond holidays and celebrations, helping expand both frequency and audience for the category.