Wine consumption falls in Spain: Three years of resilience and then a stumble: retreats and the sector recalibrates its expectations

After a period of relative stability that many interpreted as the long-awaited signal of recovery, the 2025 figures have returned the sector to a state of uncertainty

For almost three years, the Spanish wine sector clung to a figure that allowed it to look forward with a degree of optimism: consumption was holding steady despite inflation, despite price increases and despite the shifts in behaviour that were unsettling other beverage categories. Between the end of 2022 and the summer of 2025, consumption oscillated within a narrow band of between 9.6 and 9.9 million hectolitres, allowing the sector to keep its footing following the most gruelling years of widespread cost-of-living pressure.

That stability has now broken down. The latest data from the Spanish Wine Interprofessional Organisation (OIVE), covering figures up to November 2025, show a 4 per cent decline in apparent consumption, which has fallen to 9.4 million hectolitres. The turning point arrived in July 2025, when the trend shifted direction progressively, with the steepest drops recorded during the autumn months. A further disappointment for those who had interpreted the early months of the year — which did show tentative signs of recovery — as the beginning of a new chapter.

The one positive figure, standing almost alone in an otherwise subdued landscape, comes from the hospitality channel. Sales of wine in bars and restaurants grew both in volume and in value during the period analysed, suggesting a willingness on the part of consumers to spend on wine when eating or drinking out, albeit in a restrained and selective fashion. The problem lies in the home, where the retreat is more pronounced and structural: the wine that used to be bought for the household cupboard is simply no longer being purchased with the same frequency or in the same quantities.

The factors pushing demand downwards are multiple and mutually reinforcing: growing social awareness around alcohol consumption; the rising cost of living; increases in excise duties and health warnings in several markets; the impact of climate change on production; the influence of social media on lifestyle choices; and a cultural drift towards physical wellbeing that penalises wine particularly compared with other beverages.

The immediate outlook offers little to cheer about. The European Commission has already classified the decline in wine consumption across the EU as structural rather than cyclical. That means it is not enough to wait for the economy to improve or inflation to subside in the hope that the numbers will recover on their own. The sector needs something considerably harder to achieve in the short term: convincing new generations of consumers that wine has a place in the way they choose to enjoy life.

Sobrelías Redacción

Sobrelías Redacción