Italy pips France as world's largest winemaker

Italy and France have once again traded places at the top of the list of the world’s largest winemakers. France is still by far the largest exporter of wine, if one looks at the actual value.

Italy at the top

Italian winegrowers have produced 4.95 billion liters of wine last year, a little more than their French colleagues’ 4.75 billion liters. Both countries have regularly bunny hopped in the past few years, taking turns at the top of the Organisation International de la Vigne et du Vin’s ranking (International Organization of Vine and Wine), which published its yearly overview of the international wine industry yesterday.

The Italians became number one after a 12 % production increase, while French winemakers only managed a 2 % production increase. Two percent is also the worldwide average, despite drops in Spain and Argentina – numbers 3 and 5 in the list. Bulgaria (+ 106 %) and Chile (+ 28 %) increased their production the most last year.

France is still the world’s largest wine exporter, when looking at value: its 8.2 billion euro represents a 29 % market share worldwide. When looking at volume, Spain is the largest exporter; Italy is placed second, both in euro and in volume. Those three countries grab a combined 56 % of the global wine market share.

Americans drink most wine

The United States are the world’s largest consumers of wine, ahead of France, Italy, Germany and China. Global wine consumption was on the rise, despite a 1.2 % drop in France.

Belgium also gets a mention in the report, mainly when it comes to the largest wine importers. Germany is at the top of that list, followed by the United Kingdom and the United States. Just like in 2014, Belgium ranks ninth, with 320 million liters.