Overview of wine markets and wine distribution in various countries. The latest trends in wine distribution, wine sales statistics, consumer preferences and much more.
The volume of wine imports into the country was $1.6 billion in 2021, making the Netherlands the 7th largest importer of wine in the world. Wine exports from the country amounted to a surprisingly large $469 million, or the 14th largest wine producer in the world by value.
In 2021, red wines accounted for about 40% of sales in Finland, white wines 35%, sparkling wines 21%, and rosés 4%. The most popular wines imported to Finland remain those from Chile, both red and white. Among the imported wines, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese wines are also popular and closely follow Chile in the list of best-selling ones.
To start importing wines to Norway, there is no need to work through a monopoly, but rather to find a suitable importer with the necessary license for their activities. Restaurants and bars, no matter how large they are, most often will not be able to purchase wine directly from the manufacturer. The importer, in turn, will act as a distributor, selling your wine to hotels and bars, as well as to Vinmonopolet.
Ireland is an independent republic located to the west of the island of Great Britain. It is a member of the European Union, which ensures deep economic integration of the country in trade with Europe. The population is about 4.76 million people. The country has two official languages, Irish and English. It has a developed economy with GDP per capita $101,509 (nominal; 2023), which is the second largest in the world. Industry accounts for more than 45% of the economy and 80% of all exports. Ireland has well-developed trade and agriculture.
In 2021, Japan was the 5th largest wine importer in the world, with a value of $1.68B imported into the country. The most sought-after wine remains French, with $719M worth of imports, followed by Singapore ($254M), Italy ($185m), Chile ($144m), and Spain ($111m). In total, New World wines account for 39.5% of the wine market (2021).
Unlike Sweden and Norway, there is little to no government involvement in the regulation of alcohol sales. The UK government website reveals how little red tape there is: not even the need to specify the composition of a blend. The market for small importers is solid in a country of 4.6 million adults, whose per capita wine consumption is among the top ten countries in the world. As you might expect, however, more than eight tenths of wine is distributed by multinational companies through their supermarket connections – that’s according to Wine Business International. On-trade sales lag far behind, at less than 10%, with online sales about the same.
The US market has attracted the interest of wineries from all over the world, and not without cause. The US is the largest wine market in the world with the highest number of wine consumers. The USA is also the world’s second largest wine import by value, with a per capita wine consumption of approximately 10 liters per head.
Austria is one of the most economically developed countries in the world with a balanced economy in which all sectors are developed, from tourism and agriculture (including winemaking), to industry and machine tools. In terms of nominal GDP per capita, it ranks twelfth in the world with an indicator of $56,802 (nominal, 2023). The population of Austria is 8.9 million and the most populated cities are Vienna with 1.5 million, Graz 237,000, and Linz that has 203,000 inhabitants.
Sweden, famous for its fjords, thousands of islands, expansive pine forests and ice-capped mountains, is a nation in the south of the Scandinavian peninsula. Its three major cities are all found on the coast, including the capital of Stockholm, Malmö and Gothenburg. Sweden has the largest number of islands of any country in the world,
With some nine million people, New York is the most populous city in the United States. And if you throw in the whole metropolitan area, you have one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with a population of 19 million people. New York is both the financial and economic centre of the United
