What Superyachts Actually Drank This Summer: Our 2026 Season in Numbers

Every summer the same question comes over the radio from a chief stew somewhere between Antibes and Porto Cervo: what is everyone actually drinking this year? Most answers to that question are guesswork dressed up as expertise. Ours is not. We provision several hundred yachts across the Mediterranean, and we can simply count what left the warehouse.

So we did. What follows compares 1 May to 28 August 2026 against exactly the same window in 2025, measured in bottles delivered. Same dates, same fleet, no seasonal distortion.

Rose was the only wine category that grew

Rose finished the like-for-like window up 17 percent. That is striking on its own. It is more striking next to the rest of the wine list: white was down 10 percent, sparkling down 5 percent, and red down 22 percent.

Almost all of that growth was Provence. Provence rose accounted for practically the entire increase, which tells you something about how narrow the category has become at charter level. Guests are not asking for rose in the abstract. They are asking for a pale, dry, recognisably Provencal style, and they notice when it is not.

The practical consequence for anyone building a season list: rose is no longer the thing you top up mid charter. At current rates it is a primary category and deserves primary planning. Running out of the house rose in mid August is a much more visible failure than running out of a Bordeaux.

Red is falling, and it is not a blip

A 22 percent fall is the single biggest movement in the data. Some of it is weather and some of it is menu, but the direction has been consistent for two seasons now. Charter reds are drinking younger, lighter and colder than they did five years ago, and the heavy, high alcohol style that used to anchor a wine list is increasingly ordered for a specific guest rather than stocked as standard.

This is a stock efficiency point as much as a taste one. Red is where cellars quietly tie up money. If your red rotation is slower than the rest of your list, it is worth reviewing what is actually being poured against what is sitting in the bilge.

No and low alcohol grew faster than anything else

Non alcoholic volumes were up 75 percent year on year. It is the fastest growing thing we ship, from a small base, and it has moved decisively past the token bottle of alcohol free fizz kept for a driver.

Guests now expect a genuine option, and crews are being judged on whether the alcohol free choice is as considered as the wine list. That means a proper aperitif, something dry rather than sugary, and glassware that does not signal that someone is missing out.

We wrote about how to build that part of a list properly in Low and No Alcohol Provisioning for the Modern Charter Guest, and everything in it has aged well.

Tequila is taking share from gin and vodka

The spirits shelf tells the clearest story of all. Tequila was up 19 percent. Over the same window vodka fell 17 percent and gin fell 24 percent.

The white spirit that anchored a charter bar for two decades is being displaced, and it is happening quickly. If your bar list has three gins and one tequila on it, it is a season behind the guests.

What we would change on a season list

• Treat Provence rose as a core category with real depth, not a top up.
• Reduce standing red stock and order the heavier styles against known guest preferences instead.
• Carry a serious no and low alcohol option, not an afterthought.
• Give tequila the range you currently give gin.

None of this is a prediction. It is simply what several hundred yachts actually drank between May and August, counted rather than guessed.

If you would like your own numbers, we can pull the same comparison for your yacht from your order history. Ask your account manager, or reply to this and we will put it together.