Russia 2026: a spirits and wine market that drinks less but drinks better

A market in motion: value overtakes volume

Wine Intelligence data for the opening months of 2026 offers a clear diagnosis of the Russian alcohol market: retail sales grew by 0.8% in volume over the first four months of the year compared to the same period in 2025. Yet this overall growth conceals a more nuanced picture. At the same time, domestic production fell by 7.2% across the major categories. The market is buying more than it produces, and the gap is filled by imports. For foreign producers, that structural imbalance is a fundamental entry signal.

The gap between production and sales is particularly visible in still wine: Russian output dropped 14.5% (9.9 million hectoliters), while retail sales declined only 1.9% (17.1 million hectoliters). In sparkling wine the contrast widens further: production fell 13% while sales rose 4.4%. This is not a market that is closing; it is a market whose domestic supply chain can no longer keep up with demand.

Domestic production contracts; imports fill the gap

The rise of Russian wine is real and has been documented for several years. According to Roskachestvo data cited by Wine Intelligence, 40% of Russian consumers now say they prefer domestic wine, versus 32% who favor foreign options. This is a dramatic reversal from 2022, when imported wines still commanded a majority of declared preferences (51%). Russian wines now account for 63% of total wine sales by volume, with particularly strong dominance in sparkling wine (74% of the segment).

But this stated preference does not offset the production deficit. The three major players in Russian viticulture (Kuban-Vino, Fanagoria, Abrau-Durso) maintain their leadership, while small artisan producers remain marginal in market share terms. Foreign wine continues to supply nearly half of still wine sales and a third of sparkling wine volumes. It is precisely that third which interests quality-focused producers, because it does not represent a default gap: a consumer who chooses an imported sparkling wine knows exactly why they are doing so.

Premiumization: a structural shift, not a trend

The most significant finding in this study is not volume; it is behavior. Wine Intelligence notes that "the trend of drinking less, but better is clearly noticeable." The numbers bear this out without ambiguity: premium spirits sales (above 1,000 rubles per 70cl bottle) surged 51% between October 2024 and September 2025, while overall alcohol consumption dropped 12.9% in the first half of 2025, reaching a historic low.

This scissors effect between total volume and premium value is the hallmark of a maturing market. The budget being abandoned is not lost; it is being concentrated. In wine, the symbolic price threshold is migrating from below 600 rubles to around or above 1,000 rubles. In spirits, the category-level data is striking: Russian craft premium gin grew 17.6% in liters, high-end whisky rose 13%, brandy jumped 111%, and vermouth, a niche product by any measure, surged 317%. Alcoholic Siberian Group alone reported a 22% increase in premium brand shipments in 2025.

The consumer profile driving this dynamic is identifiable: 18 to 29 years old, drawn to authenticity, craft, and traceability. This consumer drinks less frequently, but when they do, the occasion is deliberate and social, and they are prepared to spend more on it.

The categories opening a window for imported premium

In spirits, the cognac and brandy category deserves particular attention. Domestic production covers only around 50% of consumption, meaning nearly half of all cognac sold in Russia is imported. The 111% volume growth in brandy does not come from a single segment: it captures both transfers from vodka and the arrival of more sophisticated new consumers.

In wine, imported sparkling holds a strategically significant position, all the more so because Russian consumers now have a clear understanding of what a terroir-driven sparkling wine, produced by traditional method, offers compared to a domestic product. The style preferences documented by Wine Intelligence (young, fruity, fresh profiles; whites aged on lees rather than in oak) point precisely to the direction where a foreign producer can differentiate from a domestic offer still largely oriented toward large industrial cuvees and volume blends.

AknoTrade perspective: the concrete opportunity

The structure of the Russian market in 2026 defines a rare entry window for premium foreign producers. The need for imported volume is established, structural, and will not be erased by rising domestic production over the next two to three years, given viticulture cycles and installed cellar capacity. The premiumization trend is being driven by a generation that does not go backward.

For the producers we represent, the message is twofold. First, price is no longer a barrier insofar as it is justified by the estate's story, method, and terroir: the 1,000-ruble threshold on wine or 1,500 rubles on spirits has already been psychologically crossed by a meaningful share of the market. Second, the distribution window remains open for references that carry a strong identity, a distinctive sensory profile, and a story worth telling.

Russia in 2026 is not a volume market. It is a market of meaning. And on that ground, the producers we choose to represent, whether they come from Burgundy, Georgia, Argentina, or Tuscany, hold an advantage that no domestic mass brand can replicate.