U.S. wine prices split in September, with store bottles 0.7% cheaper than a year earlier.

Prices of wine sold in U.S. stores were 0.7% lower in September than a year earlier, while wine consumed outside the home cost 1.8% more, according to Consumer Price Index data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The figures point to a 2.5-percentage-point gap between the two channels in September, showing that price trends for wine continued to move in different directions depending on where consumers bought it. The BLS data cover the U.S. market and compare September 2026 with September 2025.

For households buying wine at retail, the annual decline means store prices remained below year-earlier levels even after a monthly increase in September. The BLS said the index for wine for home consumption rose 0.4% from August on an unadjusted basis. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the same index fell 0.2% in September after being unchanged in August.

That monthly movement matters because it shows some near-term firming in store prices, but not enough to erase the broader year-over-year decline. The annual figure remains negative, indicating that the average price level for wine bought for home use was still lower than it was a year earlier.

The pattern was different for wine consumed away from home, a category that includes purchases in places such as restaurants and bars. That index was unchanged from August on an unadjusted basis, but it was 1.8% higher than in September last year. In other words, prices outside the home did not rise month to month in September, but they remained above year-earlier levels.

The split between the two readings highlights the different pricing pressures that can affect retail shelves and food-service businesses. Store wine prices reflect one set of factors, including wholesale costs, retail competition, promotions, and product mix. Wine sold outside the home is affected not only by the beverage itself but also by broader operating costs in restaurants and other venues, including labor, rent, and service-related expenses. The CPI figures do not break down those drivers, but they show that the end prices paid by consumers followed different paths in the two settings.

The data come from the BLS CPI release for September, dated October 14, and from the agency’s Table 2. The bureau is the federal statistical agency that produces the Consumer Price Index, one of the main U.S. measures of inflation. The CPI tracks changes in the prices consumers pay for a broad range of goods and services over time.

In the case of wine, the latest report offers a narrow but clear signal. Consumers buying bottles for home use saw lower prices than a year ago on average, while consumers ordering wine outside the home faced higher prices than they did last September. That divergence persisted even though both categories showed little or modest movement from August to September.

The store category also illustrates the difference between monthly and annual readings. A 0.4% increase from August on an unadjusted basis may suggest some rebound in shelf prices, especially after softer readings in prior months. But because the year-over-year comparison is still at -0.7%, the September increase did not reverse the broader decline over the past 12 months. The seasonally adjusted monthly decline of 0.2% underscores that short-term changes can look different once typical seasonal patterns are taken into account.

The outside-the-home category carries an additional note of caution from the BLS. The bureau says the wine series for away-from-home consumption is based on a smaller sample. That means the measure can be more variable and should be read with care, especially when looking at small month-to-month changes. The bureau also notes that seasonally adjusted series can be revised as new data become available.

The CPI data do not measure how much wine Americans bought, how often they drank it, or whether wineries, retailers, or restaurants earned more or less on each bottle or glass. The figures track consumer prices, not sales volumes, consumption patterns, or profit margins. Even so, the September report adds to the picture of how inflation is affecting alcoholic beverages differently across purchase channels.

For consumers, the practical effect is straightforward. Buying wine in stores was, on average, slightly cheaper than a year earlier in September, while drinking wine away from home was more expensive. For businesses, the numbers suggest that retail pricing remained under more pressure over the 12-month period than pricing in restaurants and similar venues.

The September readings also fit a broader feature often seen in consumer inflation data: food and drink purchased for use at home can behave differently from food and drink purchased as part of a service setting. In a restaurant or bar, the final price reflects more than the product itself. That helps explain why the wine-away-from-home measure can keep rising even when the retail wine index is falling.

The BLS release does not provide bottle prices or dollar changes for these wine categories. It reports percentage changes in the indexes only. In September, those index movements left U.S. wine prices divided between a retail market still below last year’s level and an away-from-home market that remained above it.