Spain's wine exports lose €253 million as shipments to the US fall 16.9%
Spain closed the 2025-2026 wine campaign with exports of wine and wine products worth €3,274.3 million, down 7.2% in value and 13% in volume, according to DelReyAWM. Exported volume fell to its lowest level since the series began in 2016, while the average price reached a record €1.38 per litre. Shipments to the United States dropped 16.3% in volume and 16.9% in value.
Campaign closes at €3,274.3 million
Spain closed the 2025-2026 wine campaign with exports of wine and other wine products worth €3,274.3 million on a volume of 2,375 million litres, equivalent to 23.75 million hectolitres. Over the twelve months to July 2026, revenue fell 7.2% and volume 13% against the same period a year earlier, according to an analysis by DelReyAWM, the consultancy led by Rafael del Rey, based on figures from the Spanish tax agency (Agencia Estatal de Administración Tributaria).
In absolute terms the sector lost €253 million and 3.5 million hectolitres, some 350 million litres. The calculation covers not only wine but also grape must, vermouth and vinegar, so the headline rates describe the combined performance of all those products rather than wine alone.
What cushioned the revenue decline was price. The average export price rose 6.6% to €1.38 per litre, keeping the fall in value below the fall in volume. DelReyAWM's series, which start in December 2016, place exported volume at its lowest level of the whole period and the average price at its highest. Revenue ended in an intermediate position: far from the highs of the past two years, but above the lows recorded at the start of the decade.
July 2026, the final month of the campaign, was milder than the twelve-month average, with volume down 6.3% and value down 0.6%, implying a monthly average price around 6.1% higher. “Spanish exports of wines and wine products are falling, though more mildly than in previous months,” Rafael del Rey said.
Must and bulk wine absorb most of the lost litres
Grape must performed worse than wine. Its exports fell 24.4% in volume, a loss of 1.6 million hectolitres or about 160 million litres, and 16% in value, equal to €64.6 million less. That amounts to roughly 25.5% of the entire economic loss of the wine-products aggregate, and around 46% of the 3.5 million hectolitres shed over the campaign.
Wine as a whole declined more moderately, down 9.5% in volume and 6.1% in value, a ratio pointing to an average price gain of about 3.8%. For must, the implied price increase is closer to 11.1%, steeper but still insufficient to offset the litres lost.
Within wine, bulk concentrated much of the adjustment. Spain shipped 1.3 million hectolitres less bulk wine, roughly 130 million litres, and gave up €24.1 million in revenue. Together, must and bulk account for 2.9 million hectolitres, about 290 million litres, or close to 83% of the total volume decline, but only €88.7 million, approximately 35% of the revenue decline. The gap between those shares shows the lost litres were far more concentrated in these two categories than the lost euros.
Category and destination splits
Among packaged wines, still wines held up better than sparkling in both volume and value. The category detail shows wide differences: wines with protected geographical indication fell 14.6% in value, while wines with protected designation of origin declined 7.9%. Varietal wines, by contrast, increased export revenue by 5.7%. DelReyAWM notes that varietals bill barely a tenth of what PDO wines do, which limits their capacity to offset a much larger category in euro terms. Wines without indication stayed close to stable, with a slight volume decline.
By market, Italy and France were among the destinations that contributed most to the deterioration, chiefly through bulk and, in the Italian case, must as well. The consultancy puts the Italian decline at 48% “in total” without specifying whether the figure refers to value or volume, and links the French drop to lower bulk purchases without quantifying its share. The United States behaved differently from the average: Spanish wine exports to that market fell 16.3% in volume and 16.9% in value, so revenue fell slightly more than quantities, implying an average price decline of about 0.7%. DelReyAWM also cites gains in Côte d'Ivoire, Morocco and Romania, among other markets, but provides no figures for them.
Volume at a decade low
The historical series frames the scale of the adjustment. Rolling annual volume stood near 2,750 million litres at the end of 2016, rose to between 2,850 and 2,900 million in 2017 and early 2018, then fell to about 2,550 million by the end of 2018. The strongest jump came in 2021, when the annual total passed 3,100 million litres with year-on-year rates above 20%. A prolonged correction followed, and after fresh swings in 2025 the decline accelerated in 2026 to close below 2,400 million litres, around a quarter less than the late-2021 peak. Revenue followed a less extreme path, approaching €3,600 million between late 2024 and early 2025 before ending July 2026 below €3,300 million.
