Italian wine, stocks remain high (+5.4% on 2025), but decrease under 50 million hectoliters

The “surplus” compared to 2025, in percentage terms, remains stable relative to previous months, with wine stocks which, on May 31st, 2026 stand at +5.4% compared to the same date in 2025. However, cellar stocks in Italy have fallen below the threshold of 50 million hectoliters, settling at 49.1 million hectoliters (to which, however, 4.2 million hectoliters of must, +37.4%, and 6,486 hectoliters of new wine still in fermentation, -6.5% have to be added) - still more than an average harvest - according to data from the latest “Cantina Italia” bulletin, drafted by Icqrf basing on electronic cellar registers.
For the rest, little changes: 56.4% of the wine is held in northern regions, mainly in Veneto, and 54.6% of the wine held is PDO, 26.1% PGI (with 20 PDOs and PGIs, out of 523, accounting together for 58% of total stocks). Varietal wines account for just 1.7% of the total, while 17.7% consists of other wines. Prosecco DOC alone represents 10.5% of Italian wine cellar stocks (4.1 million hectoliters), ahead of PGI Puglia (1.79) and Tuscany (1.64), Chianti DOCG and PGI Terre Siciliane (1.31 million hectoliters each), as well as DOC delle Venezie, DOC Sicilia, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, PGI Salento, and PGI Veneto (all with more than 1.2 million hectoliters each in stock).
Overall, these figures continue to point to a slowing wine market, while the 2026 harvest draws closer.