Italian wine exports to 13 emerging markets rose 5.9% in a slumping first half

Italian wine exports to a group of 13 emerging markets grew in the first half of 2026 even as overall wine imports in those countries declined, according to the latest Wine Monitor report from Italian research firm Nomisma.

Nomisma said imports of wine from Italy into the 13 markets rose 5.9% in value from the same period a year earlier. The increase came during a weaker period for the broader market. Total wine imports across the same countries fell 3.7% in the first six months of 2026 compared with the first half of 2025, after a prior year that had shown growth.

The report tracks Mexico, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Thailand, Colombia, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Angola, India, Peru and Ivory Coast. Nomisma said the slowdown reflected weaker buying in some of the biggest consuming markets in the group, including Poland, the Czech Republic and Mexico. It said those trends largely matched a wider global cooling in the wine trade at the start of the year.

The softest results were seen in bottled still and lightly sparkling wines, where declines were broad and included some of the most attractive markets for exporters. Poland and Mexico posted double-digit drops in import values in that segment, Nomisma said. Romania and Morocco also lost momentum in the period under review, halting the growth path they had shown in earlier years. Along with Thailand, those two markets had more than doubled their wine imports from abroad between 2019 and 2025.

Sparkling wine moved in the opposite direction. Nomisma described the segment as positive overall, with gains in both volume and value in most of the markets it monitors. Among the larger markets, Poland was the weakest, posting losses in both measures. Colombia stood out on the other side, recording double-digit growth in both volume and value.

Against that backdrop, Italy’s performance was stronger than the general market. Nomisma said the resilience of Italian wine in a period of slower trade suggests it is gaining share in these emerging destinations. The Czech Republic was the main driver of that growth. Imports of Italian wine there rose 22% in value and 16.5% in volume in the first half of the year from the same period in 2025.

In bottled still and lightly sparkling wines, the Czech Republic remained the leading destination for Italian exports among the 13 countries, followed by Poland and Mexico. Even though the broader category was under pressure across many of the monitored markets, Italy maintained growth in the group overall.

Sparkling wines were again the most widely positive category for Italy. In most of the markets covered by the report, the first half ended with gains in both volume and value for Italian sparkling wine. Poland, the Czech Republic and Romania remained the top three markets in that segment. Kazakhstan, while still accounting for only a small share, posted growth of more than 50% in both value and volume, Nomisma said.

The divergence between the overall market and Italy’s performance is one of the clearest points in the report. Total wine imports in the 13 emerging countries slowed after the expansion recorded in 2025, but Italian shipments continued the upward trend built over the previous five years. Nomisma linked the general market weakness to slower international wine trade flows and to reduced purchases in several of the largest markets in the group. At the same time, Italy appears to have held up better than competitors, particularly in selected Central and Eastern European destinations.

The report did not present the first-half slowdown as uniform across all products or countries. Instead, it showed a split market. Bottled still and lightly sparkling wines faced pressure in several established importing countries, while sparkling wines continued to expand in much of the monitored area. That split mattered for Italy, whose export gains were helped by stronger sparkling wine demand and by sustained demand in markets such as the Czech Republic.

Nomisma’s Wine Monitor report also includes a detailed review of the performance of several major Italian protected designation of origin wines. According to the firm, the analysis covers Prosecco, Asti, white and red wines from Veneto, white and red wines from Tuscany, white and red wines from Sicily, and red wines from Piedmont.

Wine Monitor is Nomisma’s observatory focused on the wine market. The firm said the service is designed to help companies and institutions in Italy’s wine supply chain interpret market trends and assess export performance across key destinations.