Overview: The Italian grappa market is facing a challenging period with declining sales in large-scale retail trade and away-from-home consumption. Despite this, the National Grappa Consortium is promoting exports, mixology, and tourism to counter the trend.
The Full Story
The Circana data on sales in the large-scale retail trade speak for themselves: at the end of 2025, the sector will decline by 7% in value (130.4 million euro) and 7.3% in volume (9.2 million litres). In the away-from-home (horeca) sector, things are no better: estimates for cash & carry and wholesalers indicate -9.2% in volume (2.5 million litres) and -7.8% in value (EUR 45 million).
Sebastiano Caffo, president of the National Grappa Consortium, observes that “in supermarkets, the average price remains substantially unchanged (+0.2%, ed.),” and private label grappas are gaining ground.
A Path to Enhancement
Mixology is seen as a key path to enhancement in out-of-home consumption (but also in home consumption, as Circana notes). “We have already experimented with new uses of grappa in mixing,” Caffo points out. “Participating in fairs and collaborating with barmen. It is a long job and the more traditionalist producers are not in favour, but all the great international distillates have reinvented themselves over time thanks to mixology.”
Tourism in Distilleries
In this fragile context, there are niches of resilience. As Alessandro Marzadro, president of the Istituto di tutela Grappa Trentina, emphasizes, “2025 was a year of stability despite the market not being favourable.” The trident grappa makers see a 2026 in progressive continuity.
“In mountain tourist situations, there are no signs of aslowdown,” Marzadro points out. It is precisely from Trentino that the winning model of tourism in distilleries emerges, a fundamental flywheel because “it creates culture, a bond with the customer and emotion.”
Source: Read the original article
