Austrian wine exports surpass €180m

Austrian wine exports surpassed €180 million for the first time in 2019, while volumes also rose and the number of markets increased too.

In total, Austrian wine exports rose 9% in value in 2019 to €185.4m, while volumes rose 20.5% to 63.6m litres (driven by a large 2018 vintage) and the number of total markets is now 102 – in 2009 it was just 64.

The 2018 vintage was very large in Austria, 15% higher than the 15 year average at 2.7m hectolitres, which had the slightly unfortunate effect of lowering the average price per litre on entry level wines in “price sensitive” markets such as Germany.

Nonetheless, given the amount of wine available to sell, revenues in all the top markets grew to varying degrees.

Both red and white wines were in demand, bottled red wines have seen very positive growth as the reputation of Zweigelt and Blaufränkisch develops.

Chris Yorke, managing director of the Austrian Wine Marketing Board (AWMB), summarised: “The 2018 vintage gave Austria’s winegrowers the opportunity to serve new markets and open new market segments.

“We are, of course, extremely pleased that this has been achieved and that the level of value in quality-oriented markets has been increased.”

READ MORE: Austria produces 2.3m hl in 2019