Russia's wine industry produced 20.4 million decaliters (dal) of grape wine from January to August this year, a 14.8% drop compared with the same period in 2025.
According to data from Rosalkogoltabakkontrol, the country's federal alcohol and tobacco market regulator, the figures point to a broad-based slowdown across nearly every category of Russian alcohol production.
Wine Categories Across the Board
Within the wine sector, the decline was uneven but persistent. Production of sparkling wines fell 14.6% to 8.9 million dal, tracking closely with the overall wine decline. Liqueur wines saw a much steeper drop, down 42.6% to 482,800 dal, while fruit wine production fell 37.7% to 621,400 dal.
The wine sector's contraction comes after a sharp increase in Russian alcohol excise taxes at the start of 2026, with rates rising between roughly 9% and 31% depending on category — a hike that reportedly hit the wine sector hardest of all. Higher production costs and retail prices appear to be weighing on output even as underlying demand persists in less visible parts of the market.
Spirits: Vodka and Brandy Down, Liqueurs Steady
Vodka producers made 39.6 million decaliters in the first eight months of the year, down 12.1% from the same period in 2025. Brandy production fell even further, dropping 16.8% to 4 million decaliters. Liqueur production was the rare exception, edging up 0.1% to 11.4 million decaliters — essentially flat against a backdrop of decline elsewhere.
Combined, alcoholic beverages with an alcohol content above 9% fell 10.9% year-on-year. Low-alcohol drinks were hit hardest of all, with production falling more than twofold to just 495,600 decaliters.
Altogether, Russia produced 90.7 million decaliters of alcoholic beverages in January–August, excluding beer, beer-based drinks, cider, perry and mead — a 13.1% decrease from the same period a year earlier.
Beer and Fermented Beverages Also Slip, With One Exception
Fermented beverages — beer, beer-based drinks, cider, perry and mead — fell 6.3% over the same period, to 593.4 million decaliters. Beer production alone dropped 6.2% to 507.6 million decaliters, while beer-based beverages fell 7.9% to 75.9 million decaliters.
Cider, perry and mead were the lone bright spot in the report, rising 1% overall to 9.9 million decaliters. Within that category, cider production rose 0.8% to 7 million decaliters and mead grew 2.4% to 2.7 million decaliters, while perry fell 15.5% to 130,900 decaliters.
Overall Picture
Taken together, total alcohol production in Russia — spirits, wine and fermented beverages combined — reached 684.1 million decaliters in January–August 2026, down 7.2% from the same period last year.
The decline extends a trend that has been building for more than a year. Legal alcohol sales in Russia fell roughly 9.3% in 2025, and industry observers have pointed to rising excise taxes, falling real incomes, and a growing shadow market — including widespread unlicensed moonshine production — as factors pulling activity out of the official, regulated market even as underlying consumption may not be falling nearly as fast as the official figures suggest.
Source: Interfax