If a winery profitability depends more on management than on size and “territory”

In a sector such as wine, the size of a company and the prestige of its territory obviously play an important role in financial performance, as do brand value and other factors. Yet, not all well-known wineries located in renowned regions generate substantial profits, just as not all lesser-known wineries in less famous and prestigious areas fail to produce income. This is because a large part of a winery profitability (in Italy, according to various analyses, with margins around 40% or higher, examples include Tenuta San Guido and, among the Antinori family ventures, Marchesi Antinori, Jermann, and Tenuta di Biserno, to mention only some of the most profitable cases) depends on the effectiveness of business management, as it is true in every other industry.
This is a concept that has been explained on several occasions by, among others, Renzo Cotarella, the long-serving ceo of Marchesi Antinori (also in this video). Today, it has been put into writing by a study carried out by InnoVint, an operational platform for winery management. In its 2026 “State of Winery Health Report”, InnoVint surveyed 541 wine industry professionals (mainly from the United States, but not exclusively), and found that for a winery to be “healthy”, it is essential to maintain a lean and profitable structure, have a thorough understanding of financial metrics, manage operations rigorously, invest in company culture, and remain deeply connected to the local community and territory.
These may sound like obvious points, but they are not always so self-evident in practice. Furthermore, the report reveals that “a winery doesn’t necessarily need to grow in order to be profitable. Companies with stable sales generate profits almost as often as those experiencing growth: 57% versus 58%. Profitability is determined by how the business is managed: 75% of wineries with strong operational processes are profitable, compared with 26% of those facing operational challenges, regardless of size or region”.
According to the survey, 75% of wineries believe their wines are priced correctly, yet only 56% know the profit generated by each individual wine, and half set prices without knowing the margin on each product. Companies which track profitability at the individual wine level are more than twice as likely to be profitable.
Moreover, the practical application of Artificial Intelligence is beginning to distinguish the most successful businesses. In the first year in which the report examined this technology, 60% of wineries were already using AI, primarily in sales and marketing. Companies which employ it across three or more areas are more than twice as likely to report tangible benefits.
“What strucks me most is that a winery success depends less on what it can’t control and more on what it can control - declared Ashley Leonard, ceo and founder of InnoVint - regional trends, inventory conditions, and budget constraints had much less impact than we expected. What sets high-performing wineries apart is the way they run their business”.