U.S. buyers spent 816.4 million euros less on imported wine in the first half of 2026 than a year earlier, and the average import price fell 10.1 percent, according to U.S. customs data analyzed by the Spanish Wine Market Observatory.
The first full half year under the Trump administration's 15 percent tariff on European wine has delivered a shock to American importers. U.S. wine imports totaled 536.8 million litres worth 2.43 billion euros in the first half of 2026, down 16.8 percent in volume and 25.2 percent in value compared with the first half of 2025, according to an analysis of U.S. customs data by the Spanish Wine Market Observatory. U.S. buyers spent 816.4 million euros less on imported wine than a year earlier, and the average import price fell 10.1 percent to 4.52 euros per litre.
European wines, facing a 15 percent tariff that took effect in August 2025 and held through the entire half year, bore the brunt. France fell 25 percent to 955.8 million euros, while Italy posted a similar decline to 791 million euros. Bottled wine, which represents 70 percent of U.S. imports, declined 12.4 percent in volume and 26.6 percent in value.
The Italian front
Italian producers report the same picture from the export side. The Unione Italiana Vini Observatory puts Italian wine exports in the first half of 2026 at a 6.2 percent value decline to just over 3.6 billion euros, with volumes down 4 percent and the United States down 14.1 percent. Sparkling wines, which now exceed 1 billion euros in global export value for the first time, held steady with growth of 0.4 percent, the only category in positive territory.
The damage extends into the current sales season. UIV analysis of the twelve months from August 2025 through July 2026, the first full tariff cycle, shows Italian wine exports to the U.S. at 1.634 billion euros in deflated terms, the lowest since the 2015/16 season and 15 percent below the five-year average in real terms. France fell 22 percent in nominal value over the same period, Italy 16 percent. The data confirm a de-stocking cycle: American importers stopped buying, working through the inventory they front-loaded before the tariffs hit.
A double hit on glass and bottles
Importers face pressure from both ends of the supply chain. The tariffs add directly to the landed cost of finished wine, while U.S. wineries themselves report the squeeze from the other side: glass bottle prices have risen as tariff uncertainty ripples through packaging supply, with domestic producers passing along cost increases tied to imported raw materials and energy.
The result is a margin vise. Importers cannot fully pass through a 15 percent duty to consumers who are already trading down, and domestic wineries face higher input costs even on bottles made at home. Everyone in the chain is absorbing part of the hit.
Signs of a rebound, carefully read
Provisional data for July and August point to a double-digit rebound in U.S. orders for Italian wine compared with 2025, suggesting the de-stocking cycle may be running its course. Terrainag's Winescape Spring 2026 report adds a structural note of optimism, finding the premium and luxury segments best positioned to outperform as the market turns.
But the rebound is from a devastated baseline. The first-half numbers describe the deepest contraction in U.S. wine imports in the modern era, and the second half will test whether the recovery is a genuine turn in demand or simply importers restocking shelves they let run dry. For now, the tariff wall remains the defining fact of the U.S. wine market.