Wine in Russia

Russia represents the world’s seventh largest wine market, with a market value of about 620 million euro. In terms of landmass, Russia is the biggest country in the world. And it’s not doing too badly when it comes to its population either. About 144 million people call the country their home and that population has been rising slowly over the last decade or so.

The wine market has started growing again as post-recession recovery continues.

In the wake of the great success of Italian wines, with an overall 523.2% sales growth in the last decade, Italian wines are leaders in the Russian wine market with a 29% market share. In fact, between January and November 2017 Italy sold more than 716 hectolitres of vino, for a whopping 222 million euro.

Following a positive 2017, Italian wines continue to do well in 2018. According to export data elaborated by the Italian Trade Commission (ICE), Italy is now in a position of leadership in the export of its wines. In fact, ICE reports confirm that between January and April 2018, import of Italian wines reached 61 million euro, a growth of 4.5% compared to the same period in 2017.

According to Russia state statistics (Rosstat), Russians are consuming less vodka and more vino: in 2017, on average, Russians drank about 6.6 litres of vodka per person, per year, and about 10 litres of vino per person per year, especially imported wines, so there is huge potential.

Consumption, which hovers around a 1 billion bottles a year, is also predicted to grow steadily.

According to research body Euromonitor, by 2020, consumption is expected to grow at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 1% – reaching a total of 1.1 billion litres.