The quality of Hungarian wine has improved dramatically over the past thirty years. Significant sums are spent promoting it each year, and campaigns reach millions, yet wine consumption continues to decline and fewer producers are left competing for a shrinking market. In our 2026 analysis of the Hungarian wine market, we examined the communications capacity supporting Hungary’s hundreds of wineries and how one of the world’s most advanced wine markets is trying to address the same challenge.
One of the Hungarian wine sector’s greatest achievements over the past three decades is, beyond dispute, its transformation in quality. Wineries, wine regions and winemakers have built reputations, new systems of origin protection have been established, wine tourism has developed rapidly, and Hungarian wine regularly proves itself in international competitions. The consumption figures, however, tell a different story.
According to the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) wine balance, Hungary consumed 205.4 million litres of wine in 2019 and 171 million litres in 2025. Over six years, the market contracted by 16.7 per cent, while per-capita consumption fell from 21.2 litres to 18 litres. (Hungarian Central Statistical Office, 2019-2025)
The phenomenon is far from unique to Hungary. According to data published by the OIV in May 2026, global wine consumption fell to 208 million hectolitres in 2025, 2.7 per cent below the previous year’s level. Global consumption has declined by 14 per cent since 2018, and nine of the world’s ten largest wine markets contracted in 2025. (International Organisation of Vine and Wine, 2026)
Representative surveys conducted by the National Council of Wine Communities (HNT) using the same methodology in 2017, 2023 and 2025 found that the proportion of 18- to 29-year-olds who never drink wine rose from 36 to 56 per cent. Yet the young people who do enter the category are particularly valuable customers: they reported an average bottle price of HUF 4,089 for everyday consumption, compared with HUF 2,763 across the full sample, while their willingness to buy online stood at 49 per cent.
Hungarian wine is therefore not simply losing consumers. It is losing ground in the race for the next generation of consumers, even though considerable purchasing power exists precisely among those for whom wine is becoming a less obvious choice.
Wine around the world is looking for its place in a changed consumer landscape. In Hungary, however, this is compounded by a particular problem: as the market becomes increasingly challenging, many of its participants remain barely visible from a communications perspective.
THE MARKET IS CHRINKING, COMMUNICATIONS REMAIN MODEST
There is no comprehensive survey in Hungary showing how many wineries have a communications strategy, a marketing budget, a functioning CRM system, conversion measurement or a professionally managed brand. Public data, digital presence, campaign participation and professional activity nevertheless provide an indication of the scale.
The number of Hungarian wineries selling under their own brand with a meaningful presence in the consumer market can be estimated at 700-900. Our audit identified sustained, strategic brand communications at 5-8 per cent of them. A further 25-35 per cent communicate regularly, though typically on a tactical basis. The majority communicate minimally or intermittently, or are effectively invisible to the wider consumer public. These are expert estimates, as no representative survey of this kind has been conducted for the sector.
It would be misleading to describe the Hungarian wine sector’s communications challenge as a matter of wineries communicating badly. According to the HNT’s latest 2026 HEGYIR data, 78 per cent of the 17,677 grape growers farm less than three hectares. Many smaller wineries have no dedicated marketing department, communications manager, data analyst or e-commerce specialist. Alongside production, the owner or a family member will often manage Facebook, update the online shop, welcome guests and organise events. Given such a structure, it is unrealistic to expect hundreds of independent, professionally managed consumer brands.
The market consequence nevertheless remains the same. A disproportionately small number of players consistently contribute to building demand for Hungarian wine, even though reversing the consumption trend is in the interest of the entire sector. This goes well beyond how often any individual winery posts on social media.
AUSTRALIA TOOK THE NEXT STEP
Australia can hardly be regarded as an unsophisticated wine-producing country from a communications perspective. It has a strong export market, major international brands, professional commercial infrastructure and decades of nation-brand building behind it. Yet it is still grappling with declining wine consumption.
The proportion of adults who drink wine regularly, at least once a month, fell from 50 to 43 per cent between 2019 and 2023. The number of weekly wine drinkers dropped by half a million, while the country’s population grew by 1.7 million. Wine sales volume declined by an annual average of 2.3 per cent between 2017 and 2022. Over the same period, RTDs recorded annual growth of 5.9 per cent and spirits 6.3 per cent. (Wine Australia, 2024)
Wine Australia’s subsequent research looked beyond which wines consumers preferred. It began to examine consumption occasions: when and where wine is served, who people drink it with, the situations in which it appears, the functional and emotional needs it fulfils, and the points at which consumers choose another drink instead.
One notable finding was that consumers over 50 accounted for 55 per cent of the most recent wine-drinking occasions, compared with 39 per cent for other alcoholic drinks. Among 25- to 39-year-olds, needs associated with socialising and a sense of specialness feature more strongly in consumption motivations than among older consumers. Wine Australia concluded explicitly that, to reach younger consumers, wine must become relevant to a broader range of consumption occasions. (Wine Australia) This became the basis of the 2025 campaign We make a wine for that – in other words, a wine for every occasion.
A nationwide communications platform sits behind the name. Producers, distributors and retailers can participate, while Wine Australia provides them with a shared creative framework and digital and in-store communications materials. The programme was designed from the outset so that each participant could adapt it to their own brand strategy. (Wine Australia)
The idea is immediately clear from the messages: Pizza night. Pub lunch. Party time. Afternoon sun.
Wine’s origin, grape variety and quality did not disappear from the communications. Another question was placed ahead of them: when does a consumer think of choosing wine in the first place?
This is where the real significance of the Australian example lies. A category-level problem was not left solely to the marketing of individual wineries. A shared research and communications capability was built around it, one that a small producer can connect with just as readily as a retailer or a larger brand.
In its first year, the campaign reached more than four million people, generated 6.4 million digital impressions, was seen by more than two million shoppers in retail settings, and drove more than 16,000 visits to the national wine events calendar. It continued with another nationwide wave in August 2026. (Wine Australia, 2026)
The published results are communications metrics. Wine Australia has yet to release data showing how many new wine consumers the programme acquired, how much it increased purchasing frequency, or what sales it generated. This gap is at least as instructive as the campaign itself.
WE REACHED THEM. WHAT CAME NEXT?
Meanwhile, a substantial communications machine is working to promote wine in Hungary. In 2025, the Hungarian Wine Marketing Agency (MBÜ) ran coordinated domestic campaigns, festival activations, influencer partnerships, social media, wine-tourism content and consumer education. The Summer of Bubbles campaign alone reached more than five million people and generated over forty million impressions. (Magyar Bor) At the same time, the National Council of Wine Communities operated a separate nationwide consumer programme funded from wineries’ former wine-marketing levy.
Hungarian wine’s problem can therefore hardly be described as a lack of communications. According to an analysis of public procurement data by Telex G7, the MBÜ awarded seven complex communications contracts between 2023 and 2025, with a combined value of HUF 5.6 billion. Substantial activity and funding support the promotion of wine. The far more uncomfortable question is what we count as a result.
The publicly reported results provide detailed figures on reach, impressions, video views, follower numbers and activities. Yet the metrics that matter most to the market are absent from the published 2025 report. We do not know how many new wine consumers were acquired, whether consumption frequency changed, what the trial and purchase conversion rates were, whether preference for Hungarian wine strengthened, whether the campaigns generated measurable incremental sales or consumption, or what return the communications delivered.
In a market that is losing consumers, reach is therefore only an intermediate result. The real measure is whether consumers were retained, new ones acquired, more frequent choices encouraged and, ultimately, measurable demand created. Without this, we know that the communications were visible. We still do not know whether they built the market.
WE HAVE PROVED OURSELVES IN THE CELLAR. NOW WE MUST DO SO IN THE MARKET.
Hungarian wine stands on thirty years of extraordinary work by producers. Tokaj. Balaton. Villány. Somló. Eger. Szekszárd. Furmint. Olaszrizling. Kadarka. Kékfrankos. Vineyard sites, families, stories, relearned traditions and a growing number of international accolades. Wine regions have been rebuilt, grape varieties have regained status, and wineries have put themselves on the global wine map. Hungarian wine has already delivered this achievement; the question for the next decade is who will drink it.
Collective effort, however, can only open the door. No one will build a brand on a winery’s behalf. No one else will determine what makes it distinctive, whom it wants to sell to, why customers should choose it, how it will retain them, or how a one-off expression of interest becomes a relationship. A nationwide campaign cannot solve the problems of hundreds of wineries, just as hundreds of separate wineries cannot individually reverse a country’s wine-consumption trend.
The next major step therefore requires both. The sector must work collectively so that more people choose Hungarian wine. Which bottle they then reach for is something each winery must earn for itself.
Sources:
- Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH), Wine Balance, 2019-2025.
- International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), State of the World Wine Sector in 2026.
- National Council of Wine Communities (HNT), The Hungarian Wine Market and Wine-Consumption Habits, 2017-2025.
- National Council of Wine Communities (HNT) – Pulzus, Wine-Consumption Habits of Generations Z and Y, 2026.
- Wine Australia, Australia Market Insights Report 2024.
- Wine Australia, We make a wine for that, 2025-2026.
- Wine Australia, Market Bulletin Issue 326
- National Council of Wine Communities (HNT), HEGYIR data, 2026.
- Press&inform, Communications Audit of Hungarian Wineries, 2026.