Sweet wine spans dessert, late-harvest, ice, fortified, sparkling, and Muscat styles, so market estimates differ according to the category being measured. Available figures nevertheless point to a large and growing global opportunity, strong European participation, and a meaningful preference for sweetness among surveyed wine consumers.
Contents
- Global market estimates
- Regional market patterns
- Consumer preferences and drinking behavior
- Dessert-wine categories
- Ice wine and sparkling styles
- Restaurants and route to market
Global market estimates
The reported size of the sweet-wine economy depends heavily on the source’s definition. Dessert-wine estimates are narrower than broad sweet-wine estimates, and the figures below should therefore be read as separate market views rather than combined into one total.
Grand View Research valued the global dessert wine market at US$27,286.7 million in 2025. It projects the market to reach US$43,424.8 million by 2033, with a 6.2% CAGR from 2026 to 2033. Europe was the largest revenue-generating region in 2025, while Japan is expected to record the highest CAGR over the 2026–2033 period. (Grand View Research dessert-wine market)
Market Research Future presents a smaller estimate: US$6.662 billion in 2024, rising to US$9.781 billion by 2035. Its forecast uses a 3.55% CAGR from 2025 to 2035. Future Market Report also uses a narrower base, forecasting growth from US$1,230.75 million in 2025 to US$2,045.50 million by 2033, equivalent to a 6.3% CAGR from 2026 to 2033. (Market Research Future dessert-wine market; Future Market Report dessert-wine market)
Broader sweet-wine estimates are higher in some reports. Dataintelo projects a US$14.8 billion sweet-wine market in 2025 and US$24.6 billion by 2034, with a 5.8% CAGR from 2026 to 2034. Verified Market Research valued the market at US$32.14 billion in 2024 and forecasts US$49.59 billion by 2032, using a 5.2% CAGR from 2026 to 2032. (Dataintelo sweet-wine market; Verified Market Research sweet-wine market)
Another industry estimate places the global sweet-wine market at US$20.00 billion in 2024, US$21.08 billion in 2025, and US$27.86 billion by 2030. That view uses a 5.67% CAGR from 2025 to 2030. The variation among these estimates makes the category definition and forecast period essential context for any market-size comparison. (GIIR / iResearch sweet-wine market)
| Market view | Starting value | Forecast value | Forecast period or growth rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dessert wine, Grand View Research | US$27,286.7 million in 2025 | US$43,424.8 million in 2033 | 6.2% CAGR, 2026–2033 |
| Dessert wine, Market Research Future | US$6.662 billion in 2024 | US$9.781 billion in 2035 | 3.55% CAGR, 2025–2035 |
| Sweet wine, Dataintelo | US$14.8 billion in 2025 | US$24.6 billion in 2034 | 5.8% CAGR, 2026–2034 |
| Sweet wine, GIIR / iResearch | US$20.00 billion in 2024 | US$27.86 billion in 2030 | 5.67% CAGR, 2025–2030 |
Regional market patterns
Europe appears repeatedly as the leading geography, although the reported share differs by source and scope. Industry Research estimates that Europe represented about 45.0% of the sweet-wine market in 2025, with a regional value of US$18,126.00 million. It forecasts Europe reaching US$31,940.00 million by 2034, a 6.4% CAGR through 2034. (Industry Research sweet-wine market)
Global Growth Insights estimates that Europe holds around 46% of total global sweet-wine consumption and projects a 6.50% CAGR from 2026 to 2035. Market Reports World gives Europe an approximately 38% global share in its sweet-wine market view. These percentages are not interchangeable: they come from different reports and may reflect different definitions, dates, and market boundaries. (Global Growth Insights sweet-wine market; Market Reports World sweet-wine market)
Japan is another prominent market in the supplied regional estimates. Industry Research puts Japan’s sweet-wine market at US$1,620.00 million in 2025, with Japan holding an 18.3% share in that report’s regional snapshot. It forecasts a value of US$2,880.00 million by 2034 and a 6.5% CAGR through 2034. Separately, Market Reports World says China, Japan, and South Korea together contribute approximately 68% of regional demand in its Asia-focused sweet-wine view. (Industry Research sweet-wine market; Market Reports World sweet-wine market)
Grand View Research identifies Europe as the largest dessert-wine revenue region in 2025, but expects Japan to have the highest dessert-wine CAGR from 2026 to 2033. Together, these findings suggest that current scale and expected growth are different measures: a region can lead present revenue without having the fastest forecast expansion. (Grand View Research dessert-wine market)
Consumer preferences and drinking behavior
The NC Wine Consumer Marketing Study 2023 provides a direct view of stated wine preferences. 39.9% of national wine consumers preferred sweet wine, compared with 30.2% who preferred semi-sweet wine and 29.5% who preferred dry wine. The same study found that 73.2% said they drink wine at least some of the time. (NC Wine Consumer Marketing Study 2023)
The study also measured the types of wine consumers had consumed. Red wine was reported by 77.6% of national wine consumers, white wine by 72.1%, and sparkling wine by 42.1%. Dessert wine was consumed by 22.4%, muscadine wine by 12.5%, and fortified wine by 9.7%. These are separate consumption measures, so they describe overlapping groups rather than a single-choice distribution. (NC Wine Consumer Marketing Study 2023)
The Wine Consumer Report from Geisenheim shows a different pattern among upper-class or frequent wine drinkers: more than 50% of wine consumed by those groups is dry, while only 16–17% is semi-sweet or sweet. This distinction matters when reading broader preference data because sweet-wine interest may be stronger among general wine consumers than among the most frequent or higher-income drinking groups. (Wine Consumer Report, Geisenheim)
Dataintelo estimates that sweet-wine purchases had a 12.4% increase in average transaction value between 2022 and 2025 in organized trade channels across North America and Western Europe. The measure is an estimated transaction-value change, not a claim about volume consumed. (Dataintelo sweet-wine market)
Dessert-wine categories
Future Market Report’s dessert-wine segmentation includes nine types: Port, Sherry, Madeira, Sauternes, Ice Wine, Late Harvest Wine, Tokaji, Muscat, and other dessert wines. The breadth of this list helps explain why dessert-wine market estimates can differ substantially: some reports may include a wide family of styles, while others focus on narrower commercial definitions. (Future Market Report dessert-wine market)
Port is one of the individually reported categories. Allied Market Research valued the port-wine market at US$780.2 million in 2020 and projects US$774.7 million by 2030, with a 2.6% CAGR from 2021 to 2030. The report highlights specialized retail, e-commerce, and direct-to-consumer sales as growth channels for port wine. (Allied Market Research port-wine market)
The port figures describe a specific category and period, not the whole sweet-wine market. They also show why a market can have a positive forecast CAGR while its separately reported starting and ending values appear close: source definitions, rounding, and forecast construction can differ across published figures.
Ice wine and sparkling styles
Dataintelo’s ice-wine figures identify several subsegments. Red ice wine held about 29.8% of the ice-wine market in 2025 and is projected to grow at a 7.1% CAGR through 2034. Europe accounted for approximately 24.8% of the global ice-wine market in 2025, with Europe’s ice-wine market forecast to grow at a 5.4% CAGR through 2034. (Dataintelo ice-wine market)
By grape variety, Riesling icewine represented approximately 31.5% of global grape-variety market share in 2025. Dataintelo projects Riesling icewine to grow at a 6.8% CAGR through 2034. These shares are subsegment measures, so they should not be added to the regional percentages. (Dataintelo ice-wine market)
California’s sparkling-wine production also covers a wide sweetness spectrum. The Wine Institute says California has more than 300 wineries making sparkling wine in styles ranging from bone dry to sweet. Its sparkling-wine page names five style labels across the spectrum: natural, brut, extra dry, sec, and demi-sec. (Wine Institute sparkling wine fact sheet)
The Wine Institute’s California Muscat/Moscato fact sheet identifies three styles—still, sparkling, and dessert—and says these wines range from dry to intensely sweet. This places sweetness within a broader style family rather than treating every sweet wine as a dessert wine. (Wine Institute Muscat/Moscato fact sheet)
Restaurants and route to market
Vinitaly’s sweet-wine survey covered almost 200 osterie. It found that 94.3% of surveyed restaurateurs had sweet wines on their list, while 73.7% said sweet wines play an important role on the menu. These figures describe restaurant responses in that survey, not all restaurants in a country or the global market. (Vinitaly sweet-wines survey)
Consumption was stable according to 62% of respondents, while 30% reported declining sweet-wine consumption. Among reported reasons for decline, 57.4% cited consumer preference for bitters or other non-alcoholic alternatives, and 12.9% said a valid sweet-wine proposal is lacking. The responses indicate both continued menu relevance and competitive pressure from alternative beverage preferences. (Vinitaly sweet-wines survey)
The Wine Institute reported 870 million gallons of wine consumed in the United States in 2024, including dessert wine in its total-wine series. U.S. per-capita wine consumption was 2.54 gallons in 2024, down from 2.65 gallons in 2023. These totals cover wine consumption broadly and should not be read as sweet-wine-specific volume. (Wine Institute U.S. wine consumption)
For sweet-wine producers and retailers, the available figures point to several distinct signals: Europe has a leading position in multiple market views, Japan has strong forecast growth in several reports, sweet preference is substantial in broad consumer research, and restaurant listings remain common in the Vinitaly survey. At the same time, dry wine dominates consumption among upper-class or frequent drinkers, and alternative beverages are cited as a challenge by surveyed restaurateurs. (Grand View Research dessert-wine market; Industry Research sweet-wine market; NC Wine Consumer Marketing Study 2023; Wine Consumer Report, Geisenheim; Vinitaly sweet-wines survey)