Italian wine, export recovery continues: €4.8 billion in the first 8 months of 2026 (-3% on 2025)

Italian wine exports continue their decline compared to last year, but are showing signs of a slow recovery that, at the very least, may foster greater confidence for the coming months. According to Istat data (currently lacking volume figures, ed.), analyzed by WineNews, Italian wine exports from January through August 2026 totaled 4.85 billion euros in value, a 3% decline compared to the same period in 2025, though this represents an improvement over the performance seen in the first 7 months of the year (-5.3%) and at the mid-year mark (-6.2%). In August 2026 alone, Italian wine exports worldwide totaled 506.8 million euros, representing a 5.1% increase over August 2025, a performance to be viewed positively even in a context where challenges continue to be evident.
In a month-to-month comparison between August 2025 and August 2026, the United States saw a +21.1% increase: Italian wine imports totaled 112.1 million euros in August 2026, compared to 92.5 million in August 2025. The provisional gap between 2026 and 2025 is narrowing, offering cause for optimism compared to the July figures, in what remains by far the No. 1 market for Italian wine: in fact, the value of exports to the U.S. from January through August 2026 rose to 1.1 billion euros (-8.3% compared to the same period in 2025 but an improvement over the -11.2% recorded in the first seven months).
Even Germany, Europe’s leading market for Italian wine, showed an improvement compared to July, though it remained down compared to the first eight months of 2025, at 701.4 million euros (-5.5%). The United Kingdom, on the other hand, imported 479.1 million euros worth of wine from January through August 2026 (-5.5%, an improvement from -6.3% in July), Canada fell to 265.8 million euros (-6.1%), as did France to 203.3 million euros (-3%). The Netherlands recorded 159.2 million euros (-2.3%), while Sweden remained stable but showed a slight increase, at 126.5 million euros. In the Asian market, Japan recorded 120.8 million euros (-1.2%) and is close to 2025 levels. On the positive side, however, the wine market in Russia is performing well at 140.6 million euros (+24.2%), as is the market in China, a country where imports exceeded 51 million euros, showing “robust” growth (+21.7%) and confirming a positive trend that primarily involves Italian sparkling wines.
In the most significant markets for Italian wine, overall, the figures paint a picture that remains delicate and not without obstacles, but is nonetheless gradually improving, to the point that by August 2026, the three main trading partners, the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom, had made significant strides. This trend continues to offer at least some hope for a year-end surge that is slowly approaching the same levels seen in 2025.