Russia boosts domestic wine production as imports plummet
According to data from the National Committee of the Republic of Crimea, Russian producers now account for more than 60% of total retail sales for still wines and 70% for sparkling. Eugene Gerden reports.
According to recent predictions by the Russian National Credit Ratings Agency (NCR), due to the existing tariffs imposed on products from so-called ‘unfriendly’ countries, and higher prices (caused by increased excise taxes), there may be no foreign wines under 600 rubles (£5.81) left on shelves of Russian supermarkets this year.
Overall, Russia’s total wine imports in 2025 fell to a record low for at least five years, with wine imports from the EU declining by 14% in 2025 to approximately €520 million in sales. Still wines in bottles of up to 2 litres (bringing in total sales of €272.9 million), along with sparkling wines (€246.2 million) were among the major imported items.
As for the tariff situation, in August 2023 Russian authorities increased duties on wines from ‘unfriendly’ countries (mostly Western) from 12.5% to 20%, and then again in the summer of 2024, to 25%, but not less than US$2 per litre. This duty rate will remain in effect until 31 December 2027. In this regard, according to a study conducted by NCR, in 2025 imports of all types of wine to Russia as well as Cognac—decreased by 15-16% compared to 2024.
That dynamic is forcing local consumers to turn toward domestically produced wine. According to the latest data from the National Committee of the Republic of Crimea, still Russian wines currently account for more than 60% of total retail sales in this category, while the share of domestic sparkling wines is more than 70%.
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Russian wine production
Unsurprisingly, given the increased demand for domestic wines, Russian wine production is also growing. In 2025, the volume of wine produced on Russian soil leapt by 7% compared to 2024 reaching 65.7 million decaliters (including brandy). However, despite this growth in production, local producers and distributors said there is still insufficient production to fully meet domestic demand, said Maxim Kashirin, president of Simple Group, one of Russia’s largest wine distributors and importers. As such, there is a shortage of Russian wines in the domestic market at present.
Pavel Titov, president of the Abrau-Durso, one of Russia’s leading wine producers, explained that Russian winemakers lack domestic raw materials to fully replace imported wine.
According to Titov, new vineyards are being planted at full speed, but it will take several more years to sufficiently increase yields.
The news follows on from plummeting sales of imported beer, with one leading Russian distributor claiming that imported brews could account for less than 3% of total retail beer sales in the market by 2026. Igor Khavsky, a co-owner of SVAM Group, said that after the first increase in beer tariffs to €1 per litre (in place from 1 January 2025), retailers almost completely stopped imports of foreign beer to the Russian market, and with the current rates, he expects the share of imported beer sales to drop below 3% of total beer sales in 2026.
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