Campari targets US heartland with spritz push

Campari Group is looking to expand the spritz beyond the US coasts and into the American heartland after years of growth for Aperol and other Italian aperitifs in Europe.

The Italian drinks company has spent about 20 years promoting the spritz across Europe, first in Germany and Austria and later in France and Spain. It now sees the United States as a major target, with the cocktail already familiar on the coasts but less established in the interior.

At Campari’s flagship plant in Novi Ligure, between Milan and Genoa, production is running at full capacity, with several tens of thousands of bottles of the red liqueur produced per hour in three eight-hour shifts.

Campari bought Aperol in 2003, when the brand was largely confined to its historic area around Venice, Padua and Treviso. By the first half of 2026, Aperol accounted for nearly a third of the group’s sales, out of annual revenue of three billion euros, or $3.4 billion.

Andrea Neri, Campari’s head of aperitifs, said the group has used Aperol to introduce other spritz-friendly brands in Europe, including Cynar, Campari and Sarti. In the United States, Aperol has sponsored the Coachella music festival for four years, while Sarti was launched earlier this summer.

Company executives said the US campaign would focus on weekend brunch. Neri said Campari does not plan to move Aperol production to the United States.

The company also faces challenges from copycat products, supermarket rivals and competing aperitif brands. Bacardi estimates the aperitivo category is worth $11 billion a year and expects six percent annual growth through 2028.