How Tariffs May Impact Italy's $2 Billion In U.S. Wine Exports

Forbes

02-05-2025

The U.S. is the #1 Export Country for Italian Wine
Americans are in love with Italian wine, making Italy the top country for U.S. imported wine volume over the past decade, according to NielsenIQ. Now with a potential 20% tariff looming on the horizon, Italian wine producers are naturally nervous about the impact on their businesses.
'Italy exports around $2 billion worth of wine each year to the U.S., which makes up around one-third of our total wine export volume,' stated Adolfo Rebughini, General Manager of Veronafiere, in an online interview this week, along with tw0 other Italian wine executives.
'We are concerned that the tariffs could raise wine prices for the U.S. consumer, especially due to the complexity of the 3-tier wine sales system,' he continued. 'But the U.S. market is critical to Italian wine. It's a market we can't replace easily in the short-term.'
And it turns out that Italian wine sales can be quite lucrative for American wine buyers, because Rebughini shared that every euro spent on producing a bottle of wine in Italy generates a margin of € 4.5 euros for importers, distributors, and retailers in the U.S.
During the course of our conversation, the three Italian wine executives described some of the programs and methods they are using to maintain positive relationships with U.S. wine buyers, trade professionals, and consumers. They are hopeful that by these strategies will help to lessen the impact of the potential tariffs.
'We are concerned that the tariffs could raise wine prices for the U.S. consumer. But the U.S. market is critical to Italian wine. It's a market we can't replace easily in the short-term.'
Given that wine is so important to Italy they were one of the first countries to establish a large annual trade show, now called VinItaly, where wine buyers from around the world are invited to taste and learn more about Italian wines as well as to negotiate sales deals.
'The first wine trade fair actually started in the city of Verona in 1896, and our organization – Veronafiere, which manages VinItaly, started in 1898,' stated Federico Bricolo, President of Veronafiere. 'The mission of VinItaly is to promote and foster the global wine business for Italian wines.'
Under Veronafiere's leadership, VinItaly has grown to be one of the largest wine trade fairs in the world. Bricolo reported that for the most recent VinItaly, which was held this year from April 6- 9, 2025 – right after Donald Trump's tariff announcement on April 2 – that 97,000 people from 130 countries attended.
'Because the tariffs were announced a few days before the trade show, we had an increase of 5%, or 3200 American buyers,' reported Rebughini. 'There was concern because the tariffs for Italy were 20% (now on pause for 90 days), but there was a lot of vibrant energy and good conversations. At the end of the day, wine has survived many centuries and we will figure it out.'
The main VinItaly trade show has been so successful that last year Veronafiere decided to launch VinItaly-USA. The trade show was held in Chicago in October of 2024 and attracted 1500 American wine buyers.
'At both VinItaly trade shows we provide matchmaking tools so Italian wineries and wine buyers can discuss, negotiate and develop solutions. We also provide content, education, and Italian wine master classes,' Rebughini said.
Veronafiere works very closely with the Italian Trade Agency (ICE.org), led by Matteo Zoppas, in order to launch VinItaly. 'We couldn't be successful at VinItaly without the support of ICE, because they are the ones who help us identify and invite buyers to the trade show,' added Rebughini.
The VinItaly Trade Show in Verona Attracted Over 97,000 Attendees in April 2025
Wine is very important to Italy, comprising 1.1% of the GDP for the country. Because of this, it may not be surprising that Italy's Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, was one of the first government officials to reach out to the Trump administration to discuss the tariffs.
'Our Prime Minister has a good relationship with Trump. We don't want to give up on the U.S. market,' stated Rebughini.
Another method to enhance Italian wine relationships is the VinItaly Ambassador program. 'We have now trained over 1500 people to be Italian wine ambassadors at our VinItaly International Academy,' explained Stevie Stevie Kim, Vinitaly Managing Partner.
The purpose of the program is to education wine professional, such as importers, distributors, buyers, educators, and other members of the wine trade, on the intricacies and joys of Italian wine. This allows them to better explain the benefits of Italian wine to consumers.
'The academy has been running for 10 years now, and we offer the training and certification exam at VinItaly in Verona, and now at VinItaly USA,' stated Kim. 'We are very proud of all of our Italian wine ambassadors.'
She explained that in addition to the in-person training sessions where the ambassador candidates taste and evaluate Italian wine, there is also a 40 hour online program that provides the history and theory aspects of Italian wine.
President Trump Meets With Visiting Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni At The White House
Though the Italian wine executives want to maintain their position as the #1 wine import country to the U.S., they also recognize the need to explore other markets for Italian wine.
'Rightfully the Italian wineries are looking into other markets, but at the end of the day, they don't want to give up on the U.S.,' said Rebughini .
He mentioned that they are looking at India and have held several small events there. In addition they are also expanding tasting events in South America and Asia.
'The mission is to promote Italian wine abroad, but Italian wineries want to keep on investing and increasing their presence in America. We haven't heard anyone say that they want to get out of the U.S. market,' Rebughini concluded.
Mr. Rebughini, Mrs. Kim and Mr. Bricolo at OperaWine 2025