The latest global wine consumption trends have just been released by alcohol data and insights firm IWSR and Wine Australia’s Market Explorer has been updated with the fresh information. Today’s Market Bulletin will summarise a few insights from this data, along with new consumer perception figures from Wine Intelligence.
The volume of wine1 consumed globally fell a further 1 per cent to 2.53 billion 9 litre cases in 2021. Total volume has decreased by 1 per cent on average per year over the past 5 years. The decline was entirely in still wine (down 2 per cent in 2021), while sparkling wine reported a strong recovery of 9 per cent growth to a record 284 million 9 litre cases after a sharp decline in 2020.
The total value of global wine consumption increased by 5 per cent in 2021 to US$205 billion. This was driven by the volume growth in premium wine sales (US$10 per bottle and above), which grew by 5 per cent. The commercial end of the market (below US$10 per bottle) declined by 2 per cent in volume. Premium wine now has a 14 per cent volume share of global wine consumption, compared to 12 per cent in 2016.
Figure 1: Total wine consumption by volume and value
(Source: IWSR)
The increase in value globally was thanks to value growth in all of the top five wine markets, which make up just over 50 per cent of total value.
Figure 2: Total value of wine consumption, top 5 markets
(Source: IWSR)
The value share of premium wine in these markets is 40 per cent (see screenshot from the Market Explorer below) and grew by 8 per cent in value in 2021 to $42.5 billion.
Figure 3: ‘How much wine consumed in each market is premium?’ – Market Explorer
When comparing on-premise to off-premise consumption of wine, 2021 revealed a slight recovery in the on-premise – up to an 18 per cent share of consumption versus 15 per cent in 2020. However, this is still far below its 26 per cent share in the years prior to the pandemic.
Figure 4: ‘What is the share of the on vs off-premise in each market?’ – Market Explorer
In the United States of America (US) and United Kingdom (UK), the volume share of the on-premise in 2021 is about half of what it was in 2019 – 20 per cent down to 12 per cent for the US and 14 per cent down to 7 per cent in the UK.
The retail value of global wine imports rose by 6 per cent to just over $100 billion in 2021. The key driver was the US, importing an extra $1 billion worth of wine during the year. However, South Korea, the UK and Brazil also significantly contributed to growth in imported wine sales.
The global retail sales value of Australian wine declined by 12 per cent to $11.8 billion in 2021, driven mostly by the loss of China as an export market and a 6 per cent decline in the domestic market.
Australian wine sales in the US declined in overall value by 6 per cent in 2021. However, premium Australian wine increased in value by 10 per cent in 2021 and has increased by 19 per cent on average each year since 2016. This has helped premium wine move from a 6 per cent volume share of Australian wine sales in the US in 2011 to a 23 per cent share in 2021 (see Figure 5).
Figure 5: Volume share, commercial vs premium, of Australian wine sales in the US
(Source: IWSR)
Supporting this gradual growth of premium wine in the US is data from Wine Intelligence on the attitudes of American drinkers of Australian wine towards the category (see Figure 6). Since 2010, the share of Australian wine drinkers in the US who associate Australian with ‘expensive/fine wines’ has risen from 38 per cent to 53 per cent in 2022. In the meantime, the other strong associations, such as ‘wines which offer good value for money’ and ‘food friendly wines’ have remained stable.
Figure 6: Share of Australian wine drinkers in the US who agree with specified traits
(Source: Wine Intelligence)
Likewise, in the UK, Australian wine sales grew overall by 1 per cent in value during 2021, while premium Australian wine (sold at approximately £10 per bottle or above) grew by 12 per cent in value. Premium Australian wine now has a 13 per cent volume share of total Australian wine sales in the UK, compared to 7 per cent in 2011. In the UK, associations with Australia wine such as ‘food friendly wines’ has increased to 86 per cent of respondents in 2022 from 74 per cent of respondents in 2010, and ‘expensive/fine wines’ has increased from 40 per cent to 44 per cent in the same time period.
In 2022, many markets saw an increase in consumers’ perception of the quality of Australian wine (see chart below). The most favourable change in the past year came from Quebec2 and Singapore, followed by Japan. Looking at the long-term trend, wine consumers in South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan have significantly increased their perception of Australian wine’s quality between 2017 and 2022.
1. Grape based wine (still, sparkling, and fortified)
2. Quebec is reported separately from English-speaking Canada in Wine Intelligence reports due to the differences in culture, consumer preferences, and attitudes towards wine.