Italy’s wine inventories rose 14.2% to 41.0 million hectoliters by late September

Italy’s wine inventories rose to 41.0 million hectoliters on Sept. 30, up 14.2% from a year earlier, according to the latest report from the ICQRF inspection body based on the country’s electronic wine registry.

The report, released by Italy’s agriculture ministry, also showed 12.8 million hectoliters of grape must and 8.9 million hectoliters of new wine still in fermentation in Italian wine facilities at the end of September. The registry covered about 23,600 operators required to keep records.

The increase in stored wine came even as inventories were lower than at the end of July. Compared with July 31, wine stocks fell 3.5%, or about 1.48 million hectoliters. Musts and newly fermenting wines moved sharply higher over the same period, which the report linked to the harvest and the start of the winemaking cycle. Must volumes were up 319.0% from July, while new wine still in fermentation surged 20,962.0%.

The year-over-year rise was broader than wine alone. Must stocks increased 50.5% from Sept. 30, 2025, and new wine still in fermentation rose 92.8%. For producers, bottlers, distributors and other beverage businesses, larger inventories can tie up working capital and may put pressure on prices and margins if sales do not absorb the additional volume. That can also influence production planning in the coming months, especially in a country where wine remains a central part of the drinks sector.

Northern Italy continued to hold most of the country’s wine. The region accounted for 57.7% of national wine stocks, or 23.7 million hectoliters. Southern Italy held 7.3 million hectoliters, central Italy 6.9 million and the islands 3.2 million.

Veneto remained by far the largest storage area, with 24.9% of all wine inventories in the country. Within Veneto, the provinces of Treviso and Verona were the main contributors, accounting for 11.2% and 8.5% of national stocks, respectively. Tuscany followed with 12.4% of Italy’s wine inventories, while Emilia-Romagna and Apulia each held 9.5%. Piedmont accounted for 9.1% and Sicily 6.6%.

The data also showed that most wine in storage belongs to protected quality categories. DOP wines, Italy’s protected designation of origin category, made up 56.8% of total wine inventories, or 23.3 million hectoliters. Of that DOP stock, 52.1% was red wine. IGP wines, the protected geographical indication category, represented 25.3% of inventories, or 10.4 million hectoliters, with red wines making up 56.5% of that group. Varietal wines accounted for 1.7% of the total, while table wines and other categories represented 16.2%.

Although Italy has 523 registered geographical indications, stock levels were heavily concentrated in a limited number of names. The top 20 denominations accounted for 58.3% of all wine held under geographical indication categories. Prosecco was the largest single denomination in storage, with 3,305,126 hectoliters, equal to 9.8% of protected-geographical-indication stocks. It was followed by Toscano or Toscana at 4.3%, Puglia at 3.9%, Chianti at 3.5% and Terre Siciliane at 3.4%.

The must market was concentrated in fewer regions as well. Of the 12.8 million hectoliters of must recorded at the end of September, 53.1% was in northern Italy and 30.7% in the south. Three regions alone accounted for 57.9% of the total: Apulia with 24.6%, Emilia-Romagna with 19.9% and Veneto with 13.4%.

New wine still in fermentation was even more concentrated in the north. The region held 75.4% of that volume, compared with 11.7% in the south, 8.1% in the islands and 4.8% in central Italy.

Category-level annual changes showed that the build in inventories was spread across the market, though at different rates. DOP wines were up 12.8% from a year earlier, with white DOP wines rising 23.7%. IGP wines increased 15.6%, including a 34.0% rise in white IGP wines. Varietal wines were up 20.2%, while table wines and other wines rose 16.1%.

Among musts, concentrated must increased 64.2% from a year earlier. Rectified concentrated must rose 6.7%, and other musts were up 51.4%. New wine still in fermentation almost doubled in volume, rising from 4.59 million hectoliters a year earlier to 8.85 million hectoliters.

Compared with the end of July, the decline in wine stocks affected all major categories. DOP inventories fell 1.0%, IGP inventories dropped 5.3%, varietal wines declined 5.0%, and table wines and other wines were down 8.5%. At the same time, the seasonal inflow of fresh production pushed up semi-processed volumes, with other musts alone increasing 344.0% over two months as grapes moved through the first stages of processing.