Wine and consumption: purchases in Italian gdo decrease, but don’t drop, in last 12 months

Values are slightly holding, though perhaps more due to inflation or the (although contained) growth of the sparkling wine category, while volumes continue to decline in wine purchases through Italy’s large-scale retail sector. In the year between the end of August 2024 and the end of July 2025, the figures show a +0.7% increase in value compared to the same period in 2023–2024, reaching a total of 1.88 billion euros, but a -2.5% drop in volume, with 427.8 million liters sold across hypermarkets, supermarkets, and small self-service outlets, according to Circana data analyzed by WineNews.
Looking at the main formats by volume, almost none are spared, seen that the classic 0.75-liter bottles (which account for over 80% of the total turnover, at 1.5 billion euros, +1.4%) show a -0.9% decline, while classic “big bottles” up to 2 liters drop (-7.7%), as well as brick format wine (-5.4%) with the only format gaining ground is the bag-in-box (+2.5%), representing a notable share of both volume (4.8%) and value (2.5%) on the total.
As it has happened for years, sparkling wines perform slightly better, with their value in Italian domestic consumption (similar to export trends) accounting for nearly one-third of the total, so that, in the reference period, they reached 619.8 million euros (+1.9%) for 80.8 million liters (+2.5%), with the Prosecco world (and Charmat method more broadly) making up just under half of both parameters (301 million euros in value, +1.7%, and 38.5 million bottles in volume, +3.4%), even if Metodo Classico sparkling wines show significant growth (+3.8% in quantity, with 7.3 million bottles, and +4.6% in value, at 136.7 million euros).
A similar trend, between still and sparkling wines, is seen in the “private label” sector, which is beginning to occupy a significant share of the Italian wine market in gdo, corresponding, in the considered period, to over 15% of total volume (and, around 10% in value), as saying that one and a half bottles out of ten sold in this channel are distributor-branded. Overall, the category is stable in value (+0.2%, at 182.7 million euros), but declining in volume, though less than the average (-1.9%, at 64.8 million liters). Private label sparkling wines, however, are growing by +1.5% in value (40.4 million euros), and +3.5% in volume (5.6 million liters).
These figures don’t tell any news, and any change of direction, but they confirm the slow and steady downward adjustment in Italian wine consumption, which is prompting the sector to prioritize discussions on which tools to adopt to rebalance production, which currently remains too abundant compared to market demand, both in Italy and globally.