Russia became Europe’s sixth-largest wine producer and the world’s 11th-largest in 2025, accounting for 2.5% of global output, according to data from the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) reported by RIA Novosti.

The industry’s expansion came as western sanctions and shifting trade patterns reduced imports and encouraged investment in domestic production, analysts at the Paris-based organisation said.

“Changes in the trade and political environment have coincided with a reduction in foreign supplies and an increased role for domestic production. At the same time, support measures for the wine sector have contributed to its development in recent years,” the organisation’s analysts noted.

Russian wine production reached 5.7mn hectolitres in 2025, an increase of 11.5% compared with 2024 and 22.5% above the average annual level recorded over the previous five years.

The growth reflects broader efforts by Moscow to promote domestic agriculture and food production following restrictions on imports from Europe and other western countries. Russia has also tightened regulations on imported wine and expanded subsidies for local vineyards, particularly in southern regions such as Krasnodar and Crimea.

Russia’s Napoleonic wine legacy

Russia has a surprisingly long and distinguished viniculture history. During the Napoleonic wars Russian Cossacks pushed the invader back and rode all the way to Paris where they made an indelible cultural mark.

During their time in Paris some of the officers befriended Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, the “Widow Clicquot”, at the time the heir and owner of the champagne, which she built into a global brand after taking over in 1805. Imperial Russia quickly became one of her most important markets.

One of the most famous stories from the Napoleonic Wars, in 1814, Russian Cossack troops entered the Champagne region after the defeat of Napoleon. According to company legend, officers and Cossacks drank extensively from Veuve Clicquot’s cellars. Rather than resisting, Madame Clicquot reportedly declared: “Today they drink. Tomorrow they will pay.”

When the Cossacks returned to Moscow she gifted the Cossacks with champagne-making equipment and grapes which they took back. Today those same grapes are growing in the vineyards of Anapa, a temperate southern Russian region that looks very similar to France. The equipment is still being used by the Abrau-Durso champagne making firm that belongs to Boris Titov, Putin's Ombudsman for business.

This correspondent traveled to Anapa several years ago to participate in Russia's annual wine competition. Wines from across the country competed for the title of the best wine in Russia, under the adjudication of Britain's Daily Telegraph wine columnist. In comments to IntelliNews he said that a lot of the wine was very mediocre but the best of Russian wine was extremely good.

Russia has a long history of winemaking, but preferred the cheap sweet varieties made in Moldova and Georgia during Soviet times. It has only been in the last decade that sophisticated viniculture has returned to Russia.

An influential wine maker from Tsarist times is also credited with founding the white wine culture in California, considered today to be among the world's best. The White Russian, Andre Tchelistcheff, a Russian-born winemaker born into an aristocratic family in the Russian Empire in 1901, fled after the Bolshevik Revolution and is now widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of modern Californian thriving wine industry.

He transformed California winemaking techniques and played a major role in establishing Napa Valley’s global reputation, particularly for Cabernet Sauvignon and white wines. He introduced modern practices such as temperature-controlled fermentation, frost protection and ageing wine in small French oak barrels.

Global market

Globally, wine production excluding grape juice and must was estimated at 227mn hectolitres in 2025, up marginally from the historically weak output recorded in 2024. Even so, global production remained 9.4% below the five-year average, marking the third consecutive year of subdued volumes amid climate-related disruptions and weaker harvests in several major producing countries.

The EU continued to dominate global wine production despite another difficult year for growers. Output across the bloc was estimated at 136mn hectolitres in 2025, down 1.3% from 2024 levels, though the region still accounted for roughly 60% of worldwide production.

Italy retained its position as the world’s largest wine producer. OIV estimated Italian output at 44.4mn hectolitres, broadly unchanged from the previous year and one of the few major producing countries to maintain volumes close to historical averages.

France and Spain, traditionally among the largest global producers, have faced weaker harvests in recent years because of drought, frost and extreme weather conditions linked to climate change.