Accounts in deficit, not even Christmas raises wine consumption

2023 closes - as now expected - with a loss on the Italian large-scale retail trade circuit. Total sales reach 7.5 million hectolitres, down 3% compared to 2022, with still wines at -3.6% (6.5 million) and sparkling wines at the waterline compared to the volumes sold in the previous year (1 million hectolitres). Values increasing (2.6% total, to 3 billion euros), even if - as already outlined during the year - the inflationary pressure has weakened compared to the beginning of the year, to conclude with average prices cumulatively increasing from January by 6%.

In the long term, only sparkling wine - even with the handbrake on - maintains levels higher than pre-Covid, just below the record line established in 2021 (1.1 million hectolitres) and CAGR at 4% since 2019. The situation of still and sparkling wines is very different, which after the leap in the pandemic year (7.5 million hectolitres), see a gradual decline year after year, with the budget from 2019 in deficit by 2%, which brought them below the volumes sold in 2019 (7.3 million hectoliters).