
Guided tastings, in-store displays, educational Instagram reels, and deep discounts are adding new meaning to retail wine sales during Italian Heritage month in October. Gary’s Wine & Marketplace, which has four stores in New Jersey and one in Napa, California, is celebrating Italian wine month for the second consecutive year. “It’s important for us to highlight this category because it’s a favorite among our customers and accounts for more than 17% of our overall wine sales,” says store owner Gary Fisch.
To promote the category, Gary’s is posting educational videos via Instagram reels about popular Italian wine-growing regions and grape varietals. In-store displays feature top-sellers, and discounts are available on more than 600 Italian wines. In all, Gary’s has 688 Italian wine SKUs in stock. “This number has increased steadily in recent years as we discover unique and special Italian wines that we feel our customers will enjoy,” Fisch says. “We recently added a great number of Sicily wines due to consumer demand. We’ve also added new Italian whites other than Pinot Grigio. Our Italian wine buyer frequently visits Italy with the intention to discover new and delicious wines that we can bring to our customers.”
The top-selling Italian offerings include sparkling (18% of Italian wine sales), Pinot Grigio (14%), Montalcino (10%), and Chianti (9%). Although overall wine sales are down nationwide this year, Italian wine is roughly flat year over year at Gary’s. “However, in August 2024, sales for Italian wines were up over 10% versus prior year, suggesting positive trends for this holiday season,” Fisch says.
The store’s three top-selling white Italian wines by sales volume are Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio ($23 a 750-ml.), Cavit Pinot Grigio ($11), and Kris Pinot Grigio ($11). Italian red wine leaders are Montalbera Fuori Catalogo Piemonte Rosso ($17), Ruffino Riserva Ducale Chianti ($19.09), and Lornano Chianti Classico DOCG ($16), while top-selling Proseccos include La Marca ($16), Villa Olmi ($12), and Natale Verga ($13). “We will continue to grow with the traditional Chiantis and Pinot Grigio, but we’re seeing a great deal of growth in non-mainstream wines from Sicily, as well as non-Pinot Grigio whites,” Fisch says.
The most popular price tier for Italian wines at Gary’s is $15 to $20 a 750-ml., comprising 26% of the store’s Italian wines sales. The $10-to-$15 price represents 23% of total Italian wine sales. “We are seeing a great deal of our guests traveling to Italy, and we have a great deal of Italian restaurants local to the store,” Fisch says. “These factors lead to increasing interest in the category.”

In St. Louis, Missouri, the five-unit Randall’s Wines & Spirits hosts guided Italian wine tastings in a classroom setting at its Southwest Avenue location. An Italian winery or brand representative usually leads the educational events, which are driving sales and expanding the category. “We have seating for 36 people to come in and taste through the wine,” says store manager and wine buyer Jeff Knight. “It’s a huge driver for Italian wine sales at Randall’s and makes our store a popular destination for Italian wine.”
Tastings typically last about an hour and feature around five wines to sample. Customers pay $5 to $15 to participate in a tasting and get a percentage back on any purchases made the same evening. The store recently held a tasting of offerings from Tuscany’s Felsina winery, and there will be a tasting of wines from the Cuneo and Alessandria regions on October 16. “Of all the five stores in the Randall’s family, we have the heaviest focus on Italian wines at the Southwest Avenue store,” Knight says. “Italian wines are our best moving import category. We are close to the proximity of the Italian-American neighborhoods in St. Louis.”
The store carries about 350 Italian wine SKUs. Like Gary’s, the sweet spot for Italian wine purchases at Randall’s falls in the $15-$20 range. Popular selling Italian white wines include Villa Puccini Veneto Pinot Grigio ($15 a 750-ml.), Famiglia Castellani Delle Venezie Pinot Grigio ($14), and La Dolce Nina Moscato d’Asti ($12). Top-selling Italian reds are Cinta Montepulciano d’Abruzzo ($10), Monte Antico Toscana ($15), and Ercole Barbera Del Monferrato ($18 a liter). “The trend seems to be away from the best-known regions like Chianti and popular varietals, such as Pinot Grigio,” Knight says. “People are willing to experiment. That could be a result of our wine tasting classes.”
Knight anticipates Italian wines will continue to cultivate a strong consumer following and notes that more wineries there are embracing natural wines and biodynamic farming. Italian wineries are also responding to consumer demand for orange wines. Sicily’s Molino a Vento Carricante Orange ($17 a 750-ml.), produced from organic grapes and packaged in recycled glass, is trending strong at Randall’s. “There is always going to be a huge market for Italian wines,” Knight says. “I don’t see that changing as long as they keep up the quality. Italian winemakers are keeping the category strong.”