Italian winery stocks rise to 47.7 million hectolitres
Italian wineries held 47.7 million hectolitres of wine on October 31, 2026, up 7.2% year on year, according to the ICQRF’s Cantina Italia bulletin. Must stocks also increased, while the volume of new wine still fermenting declined.
Stocks increase while official harvest figures remain pending
The figures are based on 23,665 electronic cellar registers. On October 31, 2026, Italian wineries held 47.7 million hectolitres of wine, 7.2% more than on the same date in 2025. Stocks of must rose by 10.6% to 15.8 million hectolitres, while new wine still undergoing fermentation fell by 4% to 13.7 million hectolitres.1
Official figures for Italy’s 2026 grape harvest were still awaited. WineNews reported that they were expected only after the November 30 deadline for harvest declarations, or potentially after production declarations, which are legally due by December 15. The publication described the continuing rise in stored wine as evidence of a surplus and linked it partly to market demand absorbing production more slowly than in the past.1
Northern Italy and protected-origin wines dominate inventories
Northern Italy accounted for 61.2% of all wine stocks, with Veneto the principal storage region. Wines with Protected Designation of Origin status represented 56.9% of inventories and Protected Geographical Indication wines 25.6%. Varietal wines made up 1.6%, while other wine categories accounted for the remaining 16%.1
Inventories were concentrated among a limited number of geographical indications: 20 of Italy’s 523 PDOs and PGIs represented 59.6% of the total. Prosecco DOC led the ranking with 4.9 million hectolitres in stock, which the bulletin reported as 12.5% of the total; WineNews noted that Prosecco was among the few denominations continuing to record market growth in 2026. Puglia IGT, Toscana IGT and Delle Venezie DOC followed, each with more than 1.4 million hectolitres and each reported as representing 3.7% of total wine stocks.1
Sources
- 1WineNews — “Cantina Italia”: on October 31 47.7 million of hectoliters of stocked wine (+7% on 2025)
Written by the Dionysus editors from the sources above.
