Italian wine moves 2% of the Gdp. And generational change increases earnings and investments

Often mentioned as one of the most difficult challenges for the wine sector, especially in Europe and particularly in Italy, where family ownership is extremely widespread, generational succession is now emerging as a potential driver of revenue growth and investment. This is in an industry that, in its broadest form, accounts for 2% of Italy GDP. That was one of the key messages from the “Wine Vision” - “Visione Vino” Community event organized by The European House Ambrosetti, taking place today and tomorrow in Voghera. According to the strategic report “Visione Vino 2026 - Deep Roots, long-term vision”, presented today, generational transition is not merely an issue of business continuity for wine companies, but a genuine growth lever. “Family-owned wine businesses that have already completed generational succession report revenues 8.8% higher and investments over 18%. In 2025, 30.4% of family-owned companies in the sector had already completed the transition process, while for 39.2% it is still underway”, states the report. It also highlights that “65% of the wine sector assets are family-owned, a share that rises to 81.5% when cooperatives are included. However, compared to the broader agricultural sector, wine entrepreneurs are increasingly younger, with an average age of 45, fifteen years below the 60-year average of Italian agricultural business owners”.
“Generational change - underlined Benedetta Brioschi, partner and head of Food & Retail at Teha Group, talking from the stage of the Garavani Theatre in Voghera - can become a great opportunity to strengthen wine businesses, but it must be accompanied by a scaling-up of the entire supply chain. A system made up almost entirely of small enterprises risks having fewer resources to invest, innovate and consistently compete in international markets. To succeed abroad, the sector must act collectively, simultaneously increasing its competitive scale and the visibility of Italian wine”.
For the first time, the “Visione Vino” Community has also mapped the broader wine supply chain, taking into account not only agriculture and wine production, but also business support services, intermediaries, distribution and hospitality. Data shows that in 2025 the core wine sector generated revenues of 16.5 billion euros, with a further 20.3 billion euros coming from related activities, bringing the total turnover of the extended value chain to 36.8 billion euros. Direct value added reached 15.1 billion euros, while the overall contribution, including indirect and induced effects across upstream and downstream industries, rose to 40.7 billion euros, equivalent to 2.1% of Italy GDP. More than 10% of the value added generated by Italy extended agri-food supply chain is attributable to wine. The sector includes 241,000 farms, more than 1,500 industrial companies and 681,000 hectares of vineyards spread across all Italian regions. “In 2025 - one can read in the Teha strategic report - production reached 44 million hectoliters, while exports were worth 7.8 billion euros, equal to 47% of the sector turnover”.
These impressive figures, however, do not conceal the challenges facing the industry. “Wine stocks in Italian cellars have now reached 46.5 million hectoliters, equivalent to approximately 6.2 billion bottles, an increase of 6.7% compared to 2025. More than 80% of inventories consist of PDO and PGI-certified wines. Over the same period, the average price of Italian wine fell by 10% year-on-year, while PDO wine prices declined by 7%, to 1.57 euros per liter. This,” - added Benedetta Brioschi - reflects a mismatch between available volumes and the market absorption capacity, creating economic pressure throughout the supply chain, down to the farming sector itself. This is why internationalization is becoming increasingly more central, not only to increase sales volumes but also to enhance the value generated by Italian wine”.
The competitiveness of Italian wine is also affected by the highly fragmented nature of the production landscape. Small businesses account for 94.9% of Italian wine companies and generate 48.8% of sector turnover. Medium-sized companies represent just 4.8% of businesses but account for 43.9% of revenues, while large companies make up only 0.3% of the total. The work carried out by Teha “Visione Vino” Community identified business consolidation and generational succession as two closely interconnected levers. Encouraging networks and alliances, supporting business succession processes, and strengthening managerial, financial and commercial skills can enable companies to sustain higher levels of investment and compete more effectively in international markets, while preserving the local roots that remain one of Italian wine defining strengths.
Italian wine producers also risk falling behind on one of the defining challenges of our time: Artificial Intelligence. According to the report, only three wineries out of ten currently use or are experimenting with AI, while nearly one in two (49%) doesn’t yet employ it at all. Consumers, by contrast, appear further ahead: 40% of those who use wine-related digital tools already rely on AI or say they are highly inclined to use it to plan, organize and book wine tourism experiences. Among wine companies that have already adopted AI solutions, usage is currently concentrated in marketing and communications (50.7%), while 35.6% use it for sales data analysis. This is followed by wine tourism promotion (16.4%), demand forecasting (13.7%) and export management (11%). Only 8.2% use AI in precision agriculture and just 4.1% in climate monitoring. On the consumer side, adoption is already significant: almost half (48.6%) use wine-related digital tools at least occasionally, primarily to search for information and reviews (53.1%), discover new wines and producers (43.2%), and make online purchases (28.7%).