Divine intervention: how does the Vatican wine market work?

The tiny enclave of Vatican City might just be the world’s most secretive wine market. Louis Thomas investigates. The year 2025 is already proving to be a milestone for Vatican City. The death of Pope Francis, aged 88, on 21 April coincided with it being a Jubilee Year, which is typically celebrated every quarter of a century. More than 30 million pilgrims are expected to flock to Rome, and to the microstate housed within it, over the course of this year. However, this figure was calculated prior to the passing of the Pontiff, meaning that the real number will likely be significantly greater by the conclusion of the 2025 Jubilee. In spite of its spiritual significance for the estimated 1.4 billion baptised Catholics around the globe, the Vatican is a place still shrouded in mystery. Its internal politics were the subject of the recent Academy Award-winning film Conclave, based on the Robert Harris novel of the same name. Although a fictionalised account of what happens during Papal elections, the book and film aim to shed light on what goes on behind closed doors: scheming Cardinals and an army of staff to support them. What is not necessarily apparent from media depictions of Vatican life, however, is the vast quantity of wine present.

Import data

With a resident population of between 500 and 1,000 people, according to different estimates, Vatican City is the world’s top wine importer per capita. Based on 2019 import figures and a population of roughly 800 citizens, the average per-person consumption in the Vatican is around 79 litres per year – equivalent to 99 bottles, a figure double that of the Italian average. Almost all of the wine within the Vatican – 99.9% according to 2019 data from World Integrated Trade Solution – is of Italian origin, an unsurprising fact given the Holy See’s geographical location. The same dataset also reveals that none of the wine arrives in bulk, but is all already in bottle. Data from the Unione Italiana Vini (UIV) reveals that 54,200 litres of Italian wine were exported to the Vatican in 2024, around 38,000 litres of which were fortified wines, such as those from Marsala in Sicily – which are very often used as Communion wines, hence why they make up such a high proportion. The 2024 figure for all Italian wines sent to the Holy See was notably lower than that of 2023, at 63,000 litres, but that itself was a major increase on 2022’s level of 46,000 litres. The peak in the last decade came in 2018, at 71,700 litres.

Great fluctuations

What the UIV data demonstrates above all else is that the Vatican is a wine market prone to great fluctuations, a trend which is likely indicative of the particular way in which it functions. First and foremost, the Vatican is not a member of the European Union (hence escaping US President Donald Trump’s recent round of tariffs), meaning that exporting wine there is not quite as straightforward as one might assume. Barbara Sandrone, custodian of her family’s Barolo estate, notes that the company used to sell wine to the Vatican before its person on the inside retired. She compares the process to that for shipping to another microstate within Italy: “There is not much paperwork needed – it’s a similar procedure to exporting to San Marino. What is more complicated is getting the right contact.”

One of the key bureaucratic hurdles wineries must overcome to become an approved supplier to the Vatican is to send an application through its public notice portal, Bandi Pubblici Santa Sede. It should be noted that its list of goods categories distinguishes between ‘drinks’ and ‘wine and hosts for Holy Mass’. Another Piemontese producer whose wine was previously present in the Vatican is Roberto Bava. Although he is perhaps best-known as managing director of Vermouth di Torino producer Cocchi, it was a wine from Bava’s family estate, Bava Vini, which was exported to Vatican City. Fittingly called ‘Alleluja’, the wine was a Moscato made to be consumed at Mass as part of the Eucharist. Bava Vini supplied it to the Vatican from around 1990 until some point during the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI (2005-2013), Pope Francis’ predecessor. Bava says he would “gladly” accept if the Vatican made another offer to stock his company’s wine.

As Sandrone highlights, if you want to ship wine into the Vatican, it is very much a matter of who you know, not what you know. However, actually finding these mysterious buyers is another matter entirely. Producers currently selling to the Vatican will tell you that they are not allowed to disclose the details of their contact on the inside. Likewise, for those who previously exported wine to this territory in the heart of Rome, they will say that the person who handled the deal is now out of the business. Indeed, mention to a winery that you are writing about sales of Italian wine to the Vatican, and more often than not they will ask: “Do you know someone who can get me in?” If we were to speculate, it might be suggested that the reason why producers will not disclose the identity of their buyer in the Vatican to a journalist is because they do not want their peers or competitors to know how they can get their bottles inside this microstate. For such a small market, even if the number of bottles per capita is high, it is incredibly desirable, and competitive. Given how secretive some producers present in this market can be about it, the motivation behind wanting to sell wine to the Vatican is not necessarily all about status per se. Italy may be seeing a decline in weekly church attendance, but Catholicism is still a huge aspect of its culture, as evidenced by the mourning which followed Pope Francis’ death – so to be able to supply wines to the Holy See is a source of great pride for the brands involved, but not necessarily for marketing reasons. “It is fascinating to be present in this special little state where the Pope lives. For those like us, growing up with a Catholic culture, it is an honour to have our own wines sold in the Vatican,” as Pier Giuseppe Torresani, export and travel retail director at Masi Agricola, puts it.

Duty-free zone

What many may not know about Vatican City is that it is a duty-free zone, meaning that bottles of wine are notably cheaper than they are in the city of Rome. This has been the case since the 1929 Lateran Treaty, which recognised the Vatican as an independent state, separate from what was then the Italy ruled over by dictator Benito Mussolini. There are two shops selling wine within the Vatican. The one open to everybody who visits is the Annona store. This supermarket has been operating for a century, although it has been closed since January for refurbishment. It seems that, when it is open, Romans do take advantage of the VAT-exempt goods within the supermarket – the relatively easy border crossing, with no need for a passport or additional documentation, certainly helps. As hard as it is to get wine into Vatican City, it appears to be quite a bit easier to get it back out. This goes some way to explaining why the import figures are so high despite the small resident population – a large proportion of the wine may be consumed miles away from St Peter’s Basilica, although official data on this is elusive. In the case of the other, less publicised shop, which is housed within an old railway station, this is only accessible if you have a membership card. Stefano Leone, commercial director of historic Tuscan producer Marchesi Antinori, explains: “It’s an environment that reminds one of an elegant airport duty-free, with a selection of well-known brands, with products ranging from fashion to consumer electronics. The clientele consists mainly of staff working in the Vatican, employees of the Bambini Gesù Hospital and other facilities linked to the Vatican State, as well as diplomatic staff of accredited embassies, who have the authorisation to shop there.”

A number of Antinori wines are available in the Vatican, including Villa Antinori Toscana IGT, Il Bruciato Bolgheri DOC, Tignanello Toscana IGT and Solaia Toscana IGT, all of which are, according to Leone, “very successful”. While it is the aforementioned mystery contacts who decide which wines make it into the Vatican, the long-term presence of certain producers is, as everywhere else in the world, determined by the market. Another producer to be stocked within the confines of the city state is Abbazia di Novacella, or Kloster Neustift to use its German name, a wine-producing monastery in Alto Adige, in the far north of Italy. Head of sales and marketing Werner Waldboth explains that there are around 10 wines from Abbazia di Novacella available in the Vatican, with the “typical” varieties of Alto Adige, including Pinot Bianco, Kerner, Lagrein and Schiava, all represented. Waldboth notes that the producer’s religious aspect probably helps, but that it is not a pre-requisite for being stocked there. “We have been exporting our wines to the Vatican since 2010,” he says. “There are buyers who are always looking for new products and we were able to convince them. The fact that we are a monastery and therefore a religious institute was probably an advantage, but there are other wine producers listed who have no religious background.” According to Waldboth, the process for getting the wines into Vatican City is fairly straightforward from the producer’s side. “We are simply sending them [bottles] to Vatican City and they handle the Customs,” he says. “Of course, it is an easier procedure for an Italian winery than for a foreign one.”

Papal blessing

Although he was born in Buenos Aires, Pope Francis was a keen supporter of the Italian wine sector during his 12 years as Bishop of Rome. Speaking to an audience of more than 100 producers in an event organised by Veronafiere, the body behind trade fair Vinitaly, in January 2024, he said: “Wine, the land, farming skills and entrepreneurial activity are gifts from God, but let us not forget that the Creator has entrusted them to us, to our sensitivity and honesty, so that we may make them, as Scripture says, a true source of joy for the heart of man and of every man, not just those who have more possibilities.

“The fundamental lines along which you have chosen to move – care for the environment, work and healthy consumer habits – indicate an attitude centred on respect, at various levels.” The Pontiff was of Italian descent – his father was from Piemonte, hailing from the major wine province of Asti, and his mother, although born in Argentina, had ancestral roots in northern Italy. Beyond admiring the “respect” within the wine industry, Pope Francis also celebrated the “joy” that came with drinking the product itself. He made headlines in 2016 when he told the crowds in St Peter’s Square: “Wine expresses the abundance of the banquet and the joy of the feast. Imagine finishing the wedding feast drinking tea; it would be an embarrassment.” Even towards the end of his life, with his health failing after suffering two bouts of pneumonia, Pope Francis still treated wine as something special, and not just for its sacramental use during Mass.

On 9 April this year, King Charles III and Queen Camilla paid a private visit to the Holy See, and the Holy Father gave the British royal couple a magnum of Aneri Amarone 2005 – a vintage chosen due to it being the year of their wedding, and a powerful gesture given the Catholic Church’s long-standing stance against the marriage of divorced people. That date – 9 April 2025 – marked the King and Queen’s 20th wedding anniversary. Estate owner Giancarlo Aneri reveals: “This was the first time we supplied the Holy Father.” The King was not the first high-profile recipient of Aneri Amarone – former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi gave bottles of Aneri’s 2015 vintage to the 20 heads of state who attended the G20 summit in the Italian capital in 2021. “The Pope’s gift made my family happy and proud,” says Aneri. “This is the greatest honour since our winery’s foundation.”