Wine consumption slides in 2025

The International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) said in its annual review that the industry was confronted in 2025 by "a combination of climatic variability, softer demand and rising trade uncertainty".

It found consumption slid by 2.7 percent last year to 208 million hectolitres, taking the cumulative drop since 2018 to 14 percent.

"This evolution reflects the interaction between longer-term changes in consumption patterns and a more difficult economic environment in recent years," said the OIV.

"Evolving lifestyle preferences, shifting social habits and generational changes continue to influence consumer behaviour" in several mature wine markets, it added.

The OIV also noted that the wine industry "has faced a succession of external pressures since 2020, including the Covid-19 pandemic, geopolitical tensions, trade disruptions and inflationary pressures, all of which have weighed on purchasing power and consumer confidence".

It noted that nine of the world's top 10 wine markets recorded lower volumes, and said three markets played an outsized role in the global decline: China, France and the United States.

In the United States, the world's leading wine market, consumption fell 4.3 percent last year, which the OIV put down to reduced purchasing power, a reduction in alcohol consumption among younger consumers and a wider selection of alcoholic beverages.

The impact of tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump is still difficult to isolate among all of those factors, as well as the drop in the value of the US dollar against the euro, OIV's director John Barker told AFP.

He added that it was too early to say what the effects of the Middle East war would be, but acknowledged logistical problems and inflation would "all have eventually some sort of knock-on effects on the wine market".

In France, Europe's biggest market, consumption fell 3.2 percent.

In China, wine consumption fell by 13 percent last year and by 61 percent since 2020. The OIV said wine demand was particularly sensitive to income and price developments in the country.

OIV's Barker said economic factors were very important, with inflation boosting production costs and hitting consumers in the pocket.

"Overall you know wine is a discretionary product and people's purchasing power has been impacted," he said.

Meanwhile wine production rose 0.6 percent to 227 million hectolitres in 2025, but the OIV noted this was from a historically low level in 2024.
Need to innovate
It said the third consecutive year of low global output reflected the "combined effect of climatic volatility and production adjustments linked to softer demand conditions".

OIV's Barker said the industry is confronted by the need to switch from a volume-driven model to one based on value that puts even more emphasis on the so-called premium-isation of wine -- emphasising its superior quality and exclusivity.

Ananda Roy, vice president at US market research firm Circana, said that the wine industry needs to adapt to changing trends and tastes, such as by offering more no and low-alcohol wines (NoLo), smaller bottles and high-quality bag-in-box wine.

Roy said he is "optimistic the sector will seize the moment and innovate beyond just the label and shape of the bottle".

Barker estimated that NoLo wines currently hold one to two percent of the global market.

"I think that the technology and the understanding of the product is already developing very very quickly," he said.