Spain overtakes France and Italy to become world’s biggest wine producer

Posted by Rachel England of Cult Wines on 21 March 2014 |

A wet spring and warm summer made Spain the world’s top wine producer in 2013, according to the country’s agriculture ministry.

Official figures from the International Organisation of Vine and Wine are not expected until May, but the Spanish ministry says the country produced 50 million hectolitres (6.7 billion bottles) of wine in 2013, marking a 41% increase on 2012 and exceeding estimates from Italian and French wine industries – 47 million and 42 million hectolitres respectively.

The findings are welcomed by those that have spent years improving Spain’s vineyards. Twenty-five years ago the country’s vineyards offered an average yield of just 17 hectolitres per hectare. In recent years the average yield has reached around 50 hectolitres per hectare.

However, some are concerned about the challenges the extra wine production will create for the industry. Eight years ago Spain consumed more wine than it exported, but the last two years have seen the country exporting more than double the amount it consumes, in an already competitive international market.

More than half of last year’s harvest came from Castilla-La Mancha, a region that struggles to distinguish itself from better-known names in Spanish wine such as Rioja and Cava. Winemakers in this area are hesitant about what Spain’s wine surplus means for them.

“Unfortunately, wine from our region is still not sufficiently appreciated, especially in the foreign market,” said Jorge Martinez, viticulturist at the Jesús del Perdón cooperative in the La Mancha region.

Ángel Ortega, who represents wine-growers from the La Mancha denomination, remains somewhat optimistic: “There’s a good side and a bad side. To have more production means it’s always a bit more difficult to sell. The good part is that our competitors didn’t have an especially good year.”

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