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Sparkling Wine
It's not just from France Anymore
June 2016 • Carol Collison
“In the US, sparkling wine consumption has doubled from 2003 to 2013”
Bubbly, Champers, Sparklers, Fizz – when consumers are looking for sparkling wine, they are no longer simply being offered
French Champagne. Other country’s products, like Italian Prosecco, Spanish Cava and US Méthode Champenoise are flooding the
market.
Photo credit: John Corcoran
In April, I gave a presentation at the 2016 Sparkling Wine Symposium in Oregon and here are a few of the interesting details
from that presentation.
According to the Organisation of Vine & Wine (OVW), France accounted for 22% of the sparkling wine production for 2013 with
Italy and Germany close behind at 20% and 16% respectively.
The category, has seen an increase of 40% since 2003 to 200M cases annually in 2013 representing 7% of global wine production.
Not only is more sparkling wine being made – more wine is being drunk.
In the US, sparkling wine consumption has doubled from 2003 to 2013. A report from the Wine Institute states that in 2014, 80
California producers shipped 9.4 million cases to US markets alone. In 2013, for drinkers in foreign markets, Germany lead with
34M cases and France and Russia followed with 23M cases each. Overall, from 2003 to 2013, sparkling wine consumption has increased
by 30%.
For producers & winemakers, there are some barriers to entrance in this market – most notably production costs (especially for
Méthode Champenoise) & global competition but sparkling wine lovers now have more options by price point, style of wine and country
of origin than ever before. Cheers to that.
Sparkling wine lovers now have more options by price point, style of wine and country of origin than ever before. Cheers to that.
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