Veneto kept its place as Italy’s top wine-exporting region in the first half of 2026, but its sales abroad fell faster than the national average.
Neighboring Friuli-Venezia Giulia, meanwhile, posted growth over the same period.
Figures republished on Wednesday, November 4, by Qualivita from Messaggero Veneto show that Veneto exported €1.3 billion of wine from January through June, down 8.4% on the same period of 2025. Across Italy, wine export value fell 6.2% in the first six months, so Veneto’s decline was 2.2 points steeper than the national drop.
Friuli-Venezia Giulia goes the other way
Friuli-Venezia Giulia moved in the opposite direction. Its wine exports rose 2.5% to €121.4 million in the first half of 2026. The gap between the two regional growth rates was 10.9 points, underlining a clear split inside northeastern Italy at a time of weaker external demand.
The numbers matter because Veneto is the country’s biggest regional wine exporter by value. A slowdown there has an outsized effect on Italy’s overall export performance, especially in sparkling and still white wines, where the region holds a strong international position.
Not a fresh release
The November 4 article was not a new statistical release but a report built on earlier export data. Gambero Rosso had already published the same first-half changes on September 17, attributing them to Istat, Italy’s national statistics agency. The new coverage added regional context to figures already circulating in the trade press.
A weak national picture
Nationally, Italian wine companies recorded a 4% drop in export volumes alongside the 6.2% decline in value between January and June. That suggests the sector was selling less wine abroad while also facing pressure on pricing or product mix. Comparable volumes were not provided for Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, so the data do not show how much of each region’s change came from lower quantities, lower average prices or a different mix of wines.
Messaggero Veneto presented the northeastern vineyard economy as more resilient than some other parts of the country. Trentino-Alto Adige posted a steeper decline than Veneto, with exports down 12.2%, which made Friuli-Venezia Giulia the standout performer among the Northeast regions cited.
Rising stocks, tentative signs of recovery
The article also pointed to strains in the national wine system. Cellar stocks reached 16 million hectoliters at the end of July, up from 13.6 million a year earlier. Rising inventories usually signal slower market absorption and can increase pressure on producers to manage output, pricing and storage.
There were some signs of improvement later in the year. Exports to non-EU markets rose 8% in the third quarter, and the US market showed renewed strength. Even so, Italy’s cumulative wine exports for the first nine months of 2026 stood at -3%, suggesting the recovery has only partly offset the weak start.
Production data were more encouraging. September bottlings of DOC and DOCG wines increased 5%, with sparkling wines and still whites both up about 7%. These categories are closely tied to northeastern Italy, especially Veneto, where Prosecco and other whites are central to export sales. That helps explain why the region kept its national lead by a wide margin despite the first-half decline.
Short-term and structural pressures
Christine Mauracher, professor of agrifood economics and director of the Agrifood Lab at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, told Messaggero Veneto that the slowdown reflects both short-term and structural factors. She cited tariffs, inflation, weaker purchasing power and geopolitical tensions as immediate pressures, alongside longer-term shifts in consumer behavior and climate conditions. In her view, the Northeast retains advantages in integrated supply chains and in products such as Prosecco, but producers in other categories may need to reposition, diversify export destinations and adjust production levels.
Veneto remains Italy’s main wine export engine, yet its first-half decline was sharper than the national contraction, while Friuli-Venezia Giulia expanded. For producers, trade groups and regional officials, that gap raises questions about which wines, markets and business models are holding up best as international demand becomes less predictable.
Source: Vinetur