During 2024, exports of Sicilian PDO white wines further increased compared to the previous year, when exports recorded a 7.8% increase in value compared to 2022. In 2024, in fact, exports of Sicilian PDO white wines grew by a further 8.9%.
This is one of the data that emerges from the Observatory on the competitiveness of the Wine Regions - Sicily, created by Nomisma Wine Monitor in collaboration with UniCredit, presented today in Palermo.
“Supporting the wine sector in Sicily” - underlined Salvatore Malandrino, Regional Manager Sicily of UniCredit - “which today find themselves operating in a complex and uncertain global scenario continues to be a commitment for UniCredit. A 360° support to a supply chain that has always been a spokesperson for Made in Sicily in the world and which is realized through credit, consultancy, support in the challenges of export and the two transitions, digital and sustainable”.
“The culture of wine in Sicily: a thousand-year-old history that looks to the future”, is the pay-off of Sicilia en Primeur 2025 - comments Mariangela Cambria, president of Assovini Sicilia -. "Sicilian wine is one of the symbols of Mediterranean culture, of which Sicily is the maximum expression. Wine is not just an agricultural or commercial product, it is not simply a drink but an essential element of universal culture, which spans centuries and civilizations. The challenge to which Assovini Sicilia is called to respond and give its contribution is also that of protecting the cultural value of wine against restrictive international dynamics, against a culture that criminalises what is a cultural product, promoting it as an expression of civilization, knowledge, beauty and tradition”.
Nomisma Study
After a 2023 that saw global wine imports contract by more than 5% compared to the previous year, the long-awaited rebound did not occur in 2024. Considering the top 12 wine import markets (whose weight on global trade exceeds 60%), only four of these recorded growth in imports in value (United States, Canada, China and Brazil)
Compared to this scenario, Italy has brought home a positive result (6% in value), driven above all by Italian sparkling wines (9%) whose exports now account for 30% of the overall frontier sales of Italian wine. Much of this credit is attributable to Prosecco, whose exports have increased by 11% in the last year.
On the contrary, France closed 2024 with a decline again (after -3% in 2023) of -2.4%, generated by the collapse of its sparkling wines, whose sales abroad decreased by 6.5% (in this case, the culprit was Champagne, whose exports decreased by 8%).
Among the other top exporters that recorded significant growth in 2024, Australia should be mentioned: 31%. A performance that is entirely of Chinese origin. After the “ban” of Australian wines by the Chinese government with a “super duty” of 218% starting from 2021 (due to political retaliation) and which had brought the export of Australian wines from over 114 million bottles to less than 200 thousand, in 2024 an agreement was reached between the two governments for the tariff revocation.
Broadening the comparison to the last ten years, Italy appears as the country whose wine exports have grown the most among all its competitors: 60% against 51% for France and 33% for New Zealand.
Our wine now reaches the four corners of the planet, but in some of these it appears too concentrated. 60% of Italian wine exports are concentrated in just 5 countries, with the United States in the lead (24%). France has a concentration index (always with respect to the first 5 outlet markets) of 51% (with a weight of the USA of 20%), Spain is at 48% (USA incidence of 11%).
Staying on the subject, regional exports also show high levels of concentration. Veneto alone accounts for 37% of national wine exports, followed by Tuscany and Piedmont with 15% each. Adding Trentino Alto Adige and Emilia Romagna, the incidence reaches 80%.
The same can then be deduced for denomination wines. Looking at the weight of the United States – extremely topical today in light of Trump's duties – on the export of PDO wines, it is clear that the whites of Trentino Alto Adige and Friuli Venezia Giulia have the American market as their main outlet country (48% of their exports), as well as for the PDO reds of Tuscany (40%) and followed by the reds of Piedmont (31%). The exposure of Sicilian wines is much lower: 20% for PDO reds, 14% for whites.
During 2024, exports of Sicilian PDO white wines further increased compared to the previous year, when exports recorded a 7.8% increase in value compared to 2022. In 2024, in fact, exports of Sicilian PDO white wines grew by a further 8.9%.
Sicilian PDO red wines went in the opposite direction, recording, for two years in a row, a reduction in exports (-4.5% in 2023, -2.9% in 2024).
Focusing on the top 10 destination markets, for Sicilian PDO whites, 2024 exports grew by 37% in the UK, 34% in Russia, 12% in Germany and 11% in both Canada and the USA.
For Sicilian DOP reds , despite an overall decline, growth was recorded in Canada (22%), Russia (17%), the Netherlands (8%) and the United States (6%).
And it is precisely in the United States that Nomisma conducted a consumer survey for the III° Wine Monitor-Unicredit Report on the competitiveness of the Wine Regions on almost 2,000 wine consumers located in the 3 states with the highest consumption, namely New York, California and Florida.
Among the main themes investigated by the survey, the one that emerged was that of changes in taste preferences that sees American consumers today paying more attention to quality wines (33% of consumers expressed themselves in this sense), seeking wines from different regions and territories (28%) but also paying more attention to health, for example by purchasing lighter red wines with a lower alcohol content. Without neglecting the "green" aspects that are particularly paid attention to by younger consumers.
In this context, where 65% of the population of the three states analyzed declared having consumed wine in the last year, 7 out of 10 have oriented their consumption preference towards an Italian wine.
Sicily is among the Italian regions best known and visited by Americans, as well as most appreciated for the wines it produces. Only 14% of consumers interviewed said they had never heard of Sicily, the lowest percentage together with that for Tuscany among all the Italian regions.
Sicily, together with Tuscany, are also indicated by Americans as the Italian regions that produce the highest quality wines, so much so that 6 out of 10 declare to know at least one Sicilian wine and 2 out of 10 to have also consumed it. Compared to the latter, the percentage of consumers of Sicilian wines increases among those who have visited Italy in the last five years, appreciate Italian cuisine, are millennials (29-44 years old), wine lovers (good wine connoisseurs) and with a high annual income (over $100,000).
The reasons that pushed these consumers to drink an Italian and Sicilian wine stem from the values expressed, mainly attributable to tradition, the variety of native vines and the recognized quality, both at an international level and with respect to the combination with a "fair" price.
This is why, beyond the duties, the majority of American consumers see a future of growth for Italian wine. A future that, even in the short term (in the next 12 months) should lead to a greater propensity to consume wines from the Bel Paese compared to the average. In fact, regardless of the 65% of consumers who will keep their consumption of Italian wine unchanged, another 25% have declared that they want to increase it against 13% who will reduce it, thus denoting a positive balance of 9 percentage points.
It should be noted, however, that Istat export data take into account the place of shipment abroad, so the quantities of Sicilian wine that do not leave Sicily directly for abroad are ignored, but leave from ports located in other regions to which these volumes of product are computed as wine exports. Therefore, it is estimated that in reality the foreign trade of Sicilian wines and musts is higher than the official Istat data.
Sicily en primeur
Sicilia en Primeur was born in 2003 as an international preview of the latest vintage, aimed at the Italian and foreign press. The event aims to introduce both the countless facets of Sicilian wine, through tastings and meetings with producers, and the places and culture that make up the Sicilian winemaking tradition, through wine tours in different areas of the island. Choosing from 10 different itineraries, press professionals travel to discover the wineries and the territory. Wine thus becomes an exclusive key to understanding the extraordinary variety and biodiversity of the island and its historical-cultural heritage, together with the history of the producers and wineries.
The winning format of Sicilia en Primeur includes three days of wine tours for the press and visits to the participating wineries and production areas, technical tastings and talks on current topics, a conference. The fifth and final day will be dedicated to meetings with producers and tastings at company stations.
The last edition in 2024 involved 106 journalists from all over the world (53 from abroad, 38 from Italy and 15 regional journalists) and 59 participating companies.
