Barcelona Wine Week expects to break records despite concerns about the drop in wine consumption

BarcelonaBarcelona Wine Week, the Spanish wine congress held annually in Barcelona, ​​will once again grow this year in terms of exhibitors, visitors, and square footage, organizers announced Wednesday. The sector is meeting at a time of challenges due to climate change, trade tensions between the European Union and the United States, and concerns about declining wine consumption worldwide. A total of 1,351 wineries from across Spain are registered, a 5% increase compared to last year. the 2025 edition and 880 international buyers, 14% more than the previous edition. The fair, which will be held next week from February 2nd to 4th, will occupy 10,900 square meters, 800 more than last year, at the Plaça d'Espanya venue of Fira de Barcelona. With 320 wineries present, Catalonia will be the autonomous community with the largest presence at the event, followed by Castile and León, La Rioja, and Castile-La Mancha.

Céline Pérez, director of Barcelona Wine Week, highlighted that 95% of the exhibitors present at the last edition will return for this year's edition, which will be the sixth. Since the first one in 2020, the congress has doubled both its total square meters and the number of exhibiting companies. "We don't expect to be the largest fair in the sector, but rather the most representative and the highest quality," added Pérez. The meeting takes place in a context of uncertainty and, in part, concern about the situation of the sector. "We are aware that the Spanish wine sector faces significant challenges," Pérez stated. Among these are issues that have affected the sector for years, such as climate change: in 2025, for example, the grape harvest in Spain was "one of the lowest of the 21st century," he recalled. Furthermore, the sector is also working on possible changes to wine labeling regulations.

However, "what worries us most is the stagnation of consumption" on a global scale, Pérez indicated. In the last year there has been "a 4 percent drop in consumption" driven by factors such as "health concerns and a preference for other beverages," especially among younger consumers, who have introduced "new consumption habits" with less wine, when just a few years ago this beverage "had a daily presence" in the diet of many countries. This means that "mature markets," such as those in Europe, are "in decline," commented the director of the event.

Support for free trade agreements

This drop in consumption comes on top of the introduction of tariffs, especially in the US, one of the main markets where Spanish and Catalan wineries sell the most. As in previous years, Wine Week will focus on helping producers open and expand markets to "mitigate dependence" on the US, with a special emphasis on nearby countries like the Netherlands and Germany, or more distant ones like Japan and Canada (where exports grew following a trade agreement with the European Union). Spain has around 4,000 wineries, of which more than 3,000 regularly export. According to José Luis Benítez, director general of the Spanish Wine Federation—the sector's national employers' association—exports fell by 2% between January and November of last year compared to the same period in 2014, but in the case of the North American market, the drop was 14%, largely because customers in that country anticipated Donald Trump's election.

In this respect, both Pérez and Benítez celebrated the recent signing of two free trade agreements by the European Union, the first with Mercosur (the South American bloc of countries) and the second with India. Regarding the latter, Benítez emphasized that until now, the tariffs imposed by the Indian government made that country an "impassable market for small wineries, which in Spain are all of them."

He also expressed optimism about the Mercosur agreement: "While respecting those affected by Mercosur, the Federation has always supported this treaty," he explained. Although Mercosur includes two wine-exporting countries, Argentina and Chile, Pérez highlighted the importance of Brazil as a potential emerging market where the state's wineries can grow in the near future.