For the fifth consecutive year, overall wine consumption in the United States declined, confirming a prolonged slowdown in the world’s largest wine market. Despite the downturn, the U.S. wine sector still represents an estimated retail value of around USD 60 billion per year, including approximately USD 8 billion generated by Italian wines alone. According to data from the Wine Observatory of Unione Italiana Vini (UIV) based on Sipsource, total wine sales across supermarkets, wine shops, restaurants, and on-trade channels fell by 8.8% in volume and 7.2% in value in 2025.
Italian wine also closed 2025 with negative results, but significantly outperformed the market average. Italian wines recorded a decline of 5.2% in volume and 3% in value, compared with an overall market heavily penalised by the crisis of U.S. domestic wines, which suffered volume losses close to 10%.
The contraction of Italian wines sales was partly offset by the strong performance of Prosecco, which grew by +3.7% in value, and by prestigious red appellations such as Chianti Classico and Brunello di Montalcino. All other major PDOs posted declines. Even so, Italy confirmed its position as the leading country in imported wine consumption in the U.S., in a year that also marked a new leadership for the sparkling wine category. Italian sparkling wines reached a 47.5% market share in both volume and value, surpassing France at 46%.
Commenting on the results, Lamberto Frescobaldi, President of Unione Italiana Vini, said: “Over the last four years, wine consumption in the U.S. has fallen by about 20%, while Italian wines have declined by around 12%. In a market already weakened by lower purchasing power, the tariff environment is even more impactful, especially now that retail prices are rising. In December, we recorded a year-on-year price increase of around 4%, despite the fact that Italian producers reduced their price lists by an average of 10% over the last six months. At this stage, everyone must do their part to keep demand alive. Producers are doing theirs, while the U.S. trade much less so, and this risks becoming a boomerang for the entire system. The United States remains an irreplaceable market for Italian wine, but with exports expected to close 2025 down 9% in value, we must accelerate new free-trade agreements in response to protectionist trends. Every new partnership is both an opportunity and a responsibility, starting with Mercosur and India.”
Further insights from the UIV Observatory based on Sipsource, which tracks U.S. distributor warehouse depletions, show that Italian sparkling wines are the only category posting growth in commercial value (+2.1%). Red wines limited losses to -3.9%, performing better than the overall red category, which declined by -10.1%. White wines fell by 5.3%, while rosé and aromatized wines registered sharp drops of around 20 percentage points.
In terms of spending, sparkling wines now account for 40% of total U.S. expenditure on Italian bottles. They are followed by white wines at 28%, reds at 17%, aromatized wines at 4% and rosés at 3%. From a geographical perspective, consumption of Italian wines is led by the South, representing 48% of total demand, followed by the Northeast (18%), the West (17%), and the Midwest (16%).
Among Italy’s main competitors, France managed to keep the value of its sales almost stable year on year at -0.2%, supported mainly by white wines and Champagne. Spain recorded a decline of 4.7%. New Zealand, a leader in white wines, limited losses to -2.9%, while other producers—from Australia to Chile and Argentina—posted double-digit declines. U.S. wines, which account for 67% of total U.S. wine consumption in value terms, fell by 8.6%, underlining the depth of the domestic market’s contraction.
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