Average DTC bottle price soars to $52 in the US

The average price of a bottle of wine in the US has risen to more than $50 per bottle, almost 40% higher than in 2018, according to the latest report by DTC analyst Sovos ShipCompliant.

The Sovos ShipCompliant report has become known as the oracle for DTC wine sales insight in the US. Compiled using an an algorithm which measures total direct-to-consumer shipments based on millions of transactions filtered through the ShipCompliant system and paired with WineBusiness Analytics’ data on US wineries, it offers a detailed overview of the current state of DTC sales in America.

This week saw the release of the 2025 Direct-to-Consumer Wine Shipping Mid-Year Report, which contains some sobering revelations, including the stratospheric cost of the average bottle of wine in the US.

According to the report, this has now climbed by 8% to reach US$52.68, nearly 40% higher than in 2018. Much of this has to do with the ultra premium costs of Napa Valley wines, given that the average price of a Napa wine had already reached US$108 per bottle in 2023. Soaring prices such as those in Napa will have helped push up the total national average. Indeed, the report shows that between January and June 2025, Napa Valley accounted for a staggering 46% of national DTC sales value, and 27% of the volume.

Oregon, however, bucked the trend, becoming the sole US region to lower its bottle prices, falling by 3% to US$49.43.

Bigger baskets

The latest Sovos data also indicates that US consumers are consolidating their wine purchases into fewer but larger orders, pushing the average order size to 9.9 bottles. Single-bottle orders are the least common, comprising just 13% of total shipments. And as a result of this, the average basket value has grown by 13% to reach US$521.

This reality is reflected in the overall DTC sales across the nation, with wine shipment volume declining by a significant 12% between January and June 2025, amounting to 2.7 million cases sold.

“It’s definitely not what US wineries were hoping to see in terms of total DTC shipment volume at this time of year,” said Andrew Adams of WineBusiness Analytics. “There was some optimism at the end of 2024 that declines would moderate through this year but that has not been the case. We are seeing the impacts of wine’s bigger challenges in the DTC market.”

Despite the higher bottle prices, the total value of shipments nationwide fell by 6% to US$1.7 billion.

Volume big-hitters

The top ten US states by DTC volume at the halfway point of 2025 are:

1.California
2.Texas
3.Washington
4.Florida
5.New York
6.Oregon
7.Pennsylvania
8.Illinois
9.Colorado
10.Virginia

In terms of the most popular grape varieties in the US, Cabernet Sauvignon maintained its lead with a 16% share of total volume. Cab is also the highest-priced variety, with the average bottle price climbing to $98.35.

The second most popular red variety is Pinot Noir with a 15% share of volume, and average bottle price of $55.59.

Coming third are ‘red blends’, which represent 13% of volume and $63.69 average bottle price.

For whites, Chardonnay reigns with a 10% share of volume (down 9%) and 9% share of value (down 4%).

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