US the ‘most attractive’ wine market

The US is the world’s “most attractive” wine market while China has fallen out of the top five according to a new Wine Intelligence report.

The latest ‘Compass Report 2015-16”, ranks countries using a combination of economic and wine market measures such as ease of doing business and sophistication of the supply chain.

It concluded that despite a convoluted distribution system the US, “remains the strongest bet for sales growth in the wine category because of its booming economy and increasing spend and consumption habits of its wine drinking population.”

Germany – because of the size of its wine market and strong economic performance – ranked second and Japan third while the UK was fourth.

The economic wobbles in China and government crackdown on luxury goods saw China slip to sixth place although the report added it remained a, “strong long-term market bet, and is expected to make a return to the top 5 as more middle class Chinese get into the habit of buying everyday wine for consumption at home.”

Luis Osorio, senior research analyst at Wine Intelligence, commented: “Wine producers are now having to export more than ever before as demand grows in new places and – in many cases – their domestic market is in decline.

“This report is designed to help those exporters trying to allocate their sales and marketing resources among competing opportunities which are often hard to evaluate quickly and accurately.”