2026-05-04
Sicily’s white DOC wines posted export growth in 2025 even as Italy’s wine shipments abroad fell, offering a rare bright spot in a difficult year for the sector and a sign that some regional producers are holding up better than the broader market under pressure from weaker demand and U.S. tariffs.
A study by Nomisma for UniCredit, presented Thursday in Palermo during the Sicilia en Primeur event with Assovini, found that Italian wine exports ended 2025 down 3.6% in value from the previous year. That decline amounted to nearly €300 million and about 400,000 hectoliters. The sharpest losses came from North America, where exports fell by €204 million, and from non-EU Europe, where they dropped by €89 million. Shipments to European Union countries, which still account for 40% of Italy’s total wine export value, rose and helped soften the overall decline.
The report said the downturn reflected weaker consumption and lower purchases of imported wine in major markets. Among the top importers, only Germany, Switzerland and Brazil showed growth in wine imports by value. The United States fell 12%, Britain 6%, Canada 12% and China 15%. Those declines were also felt in Italy’s protected-designation wines.
Against that backdrop, Sicily’s still white DOC wines stood out. Their export value rose 2.4% from the previous year. The report said that “not even Trump’s tariffs” were enough to stop the category, noting that while the average Italian wine lost nearly 13% in value in the U.S. market, Sicily’s white DOC wines increased exports to the United States by 8.4%.
The picture was less favorable for Sicily’s red DOC wines, which fell 11% in export value from the previous year, dragged down by the U.S., their main destination market.
The report also cautioned that Italy’s official export data are based on the place of shipment abroad, which means some Sicilian wine and must exported through ports in other regions are not counted as Sicilian exports. For that reason, Nomisma estimated that foreign trade in Sicilian wines and musts is likely higher than the official Istat figures show.
The study linked part of the weakness in red wine demand to a long-term shift in drinking habits in Italy itself. It said the base of habitual wine drinkers has been shrinking for years. Italians over 60 who said 15 years ago that they drank wine regularly made up 70% of that age group; today they account for 54%.