Wine, consumers do not drop but drink less frequently. Aperitifs grow

There is time to wrap one's head around it. In spite of the fears of the production world linked above all to the growing prohibitionist wave that is increasingly putting alcohol consumption in general in its sights, wine consumption in Italy is not in decline. The number of wine lovers remains largely intact (29.4 million in 2023), as does the population penetration index (55%), but they are undergoing a profound transformation. In fact, consumption is becoming less and less habitual and less and less daily (daily purchasers have dropped to 11.7 million, 400,000 less than in 2022), and always more occasional, linked to the aperitif ritual and with an ever greater female component.

This is the picture that emerges from the survey carried out by the Osservatorio Uiv on Istat data on the consumption of alcoholic beverages over the last 12 years and which sees Italians in general not giving up wine (the number of drinkers compared to 2011 has grown by 2%) but with substantial changes in habits.

Wine lovers are 58% male and 42% female and show a more responsible and conscious, but at the same time less exclusive relationship with wine, made up of frequent 'betrayals' of habits and flirtations with other alcoholic partners.

This is a trend towards a less constant and more occasional consumption of wine," explain the UIV Observatory, "that with the passing of the years increasingly characterises not only the young and very young, but is now also reflected in the older generations, who are also less and less tied to daily use. Proof of this is, among other things, the significant growth in the number of consumers at aperitifs (+31% since 2011), now a habit for almost 22 million people.

"The new Istat surveys," commented the President of the Italian Wine Union, Lamberto Frescobaldi, "confirm once again the extraordinary relationship of Italians with wine: habits change, but probably the current approach is even more stimulating compared to the motivations of yesteryear. Today the demand is more related to pleasure and sharing than to habit, and this I think is an important proof of maturity that confirms that wine is synonymous with moderation".