Italian Reds Gain on Drizly

Drizly shoppers are reaching for red wines from Italy, which is second after the U.S. in the top-producing countries within the red wine category. In the past year, there has been movement among the best-selling Italian red wine varietals.

In the last 12 months, Italian reds accounted for a 7% share of total red wine category sales on the platform, showing a six percent increase over the previous year.  That's a sharp contrast to NielsenIQ off-premise data, which shows dollar sales declined for many Italian red varietal wines – including Sangiovese, Montepulciano, and Lambrusco – during the 52 weeks ending June 18.

“Among wine-producing countries,” notes Liz Paquette, Drizly’s head of consumer insights, “this makes Italy the second-largest seller of red wines on the platform, behind the United States.”

Not only is the popularity of Italian red wines growing on Drizly, she says, but consumers are also willing to pay more per bottle for these wines compared to the overall red wine average. The average unit price across all red wines sold on the platform is $19.80, yet the average cost for Italian red wines is $21.70. Among the five best-selling Italian red varieties, Sangiovese tops the list with an average unit price of nearly $30.

“Overall,” says Paquette, “there has been significant movement within the top five red Italian varieties sold on Drizly, with Sangiovese and Nebbiolo moving up the list.” During the past 12 months, Sangiovese advanced from the second position to the No. 1 spot, while Montepulciano slipped to No. 3. Nebbiolo, ranked third last year, now holds the No. 2 position.

The top five Italian red wine varietals shoppers are buying on Drizly are Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, Montepulciano, Barbera and Lambrusco.