Are wine drinkers falling out of love with high-end Bordeaux and Champagne?

Is the world falling out of love with premium French wines?

The value of French wine exports has fallen for a second year even as shipped volumes crept up, with consumers favouring more affordable bottles, British wine magazine Decanter has reported.

Data shows that Champagne exports slumped, while demand for more modestly priced sparkling wines increased.

Foreign buyers favoured more affordable bottles from the Loire Valley and Provence over high-end Bordeaux wines.

The value of wine exports fell 3% to €10.9 billon last year, French wine and spirits export agency FEVS said.

That remains the third-highest on record, as greater export demand for regional bubbles and still wine without a geographical denomination partly made up for dipping sales for Champagne and Bordeaux.

The volume of export shipments increased 0.7% to 124.1 million cases, relatively stable.

French wine exports overall faced a double impact from inflation and economic uncertainty, and a shift away from the most expensive wines to more affordable options, FEVS president Gabriel Picard told Decanter.

"There is undoubtedly a shift in consumption patterns, and maybe the end of a phenomenon of ultra-premiumisation," Picard said.

"Products with higher added value, at least the core of the range, have held up rather well or even progressed, for example in the case of sparkling wines, whereas the very expensive Champagnes have tended to decline."

Shipments to the UK, the second-largest export market for French winemakers, increased 5.4%, while the value of exports fell 3.9% to €1.4bn.

The value of French wine exports to China slumped 17%, and wine trade with Singapore and Hong Kong also declined.

Champagne, which remains France’s biggest wine export by value, had a tough year in 2024, with shipments falling 9.7% to 12.4 million cases and export value slipping 8% to €3.86bn.

By contrast, sparkling wines from other regions, including Crémant de Loire and Crémant d’Alsace, saw export volume rising 8% to 10.3 million cases, and the value jumping 9.5% to €426m.

Bordeaux exports fell 4.5% in volume to 16.6 million cases, while the value slipped 1.4% to €5.28bn.

The Loire Valley reported higher export volumes in 2024, while Provence also sold more wine abroad.

"We see that the mid-range tends to be more resilient, that goes for the reds and the whites," Picard said. "The other trend that we see is there tends to be some sort of decline in consumption of reds, and good resilience or progress for the white and rosé wines."

Image: Andrii Omelnytskiy, Scop.io

Wine industry cheered by thaw in Australia-China relations

The Australian wine industry is hoping for a breakthrough in the trade stalemate with China that has seen exports slump.

Wine industry leaders hope the recent meeting between Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Chinese leaders could eventually lead to a lifting of tariffs, which are costing the sector more than a billion dollars a year.

Australia and China took the first step towards repairing their diplomatic relationship following a "constructive" meeting between Albanese and Xi Jinping on the side line of the G20 summit in Bali earlier this week.

The new chief executive of Australian Grape & Wine, the national association for wine grape and wine producers, Lee McLean, described the meeting as "very positive", but warned producers there was "a long way to go", Australian Associated Press reported.

"Dialogue is great and we hope this sets the right conditions for further dialogue ... opening opportunities to resolve the import duties issue," he told AAP.

McLean said producers shouldn't expect an immediate removal of import duties as a result of an initial meeting.

"This is probably the start of the process," he said.

China's $20 billion worth of trade sanctions on Australia were discussed at the meeting between the two leaders.

Chinese tariffs on Australian wine exports of up to 218% were introduced in March 2021, and have made it unviable for most producers to sell into the growing Chinese market and its fast rising middle class.

Sales have since dropped in the Chinese market by 98%.

China had previously been the Australian wine industry's largest export market by value.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt described the meeting between the nation's leaders as "significant" to the wine industry, and said he had talked with Albanese following the meeting.

"This is a very positive step - the first such meeting between the two countries' leaders since 2016," he told an audience of wine industry representatives in Adelaide. "There can be no doubt that our new government's renewed mature engagement in the Asia-Pacific is beginning to repair relationships damaged by the previous government."

Photo by Giorgia Frare on Scopio

Why wine exporting is a fiercely competitive business

With Australia exporting around 60% of the wine it produces, it is in fierce competition with Italy, France, Spain, the US, Argentina, Chile and South Africa for overseas sales. 

To assist Australian wine producers to better understand the competitor landscape, Wine Australia has prepared a new report called Global Wine Production Competitor Analysis. 

It is a high-level overview of the main wine producing countries in the world and pulls together information from various data sources to summarise the profile of these countries as wine producers and exporters, and how they are positioned relative to Australia in key export markets.

Over the past decade, global wine production varied between 24.8 and 29.4 billion litres. 

In 2021, wine production was estimated to be 25 billion litres. Australia’s share over the period hovered between 4% and 6% and generally ranks the country as either the fifth- or sixth-largest wine producer in the world. 

By far the biggest wine producers are Italy, France and Spain. Combined, they account for between 46 to 52% of global production, depending on the year.

Changes in production in each of these three countries has a significant influence on global supply. For example, wine production for each country increased by around 1.2 billion litres in 2018, which to put in context, is how much Australia produces in an average year.

The top three exporters by volume are Spain, Italy and France, with a 54% share in the latest year. 

The US and Argentina are far less focused on exporting than the other major producers. The US exports on average exports about 15% (maybe because a lot of its wines are either awful or prohibitively expensive). 

Within Australia’s major export markets, Italy has its biggest volume share of imports in Germany, the US, Sweden, Denmark and the United Kingdom. It generally has lower market shares in the Asian markets. 

In contrast, France’s largest share of exports are to Asia: Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan.

Spain’s largest volume share among Australia’s key markets is in Germany, followed by South Korea, Japan and Denmark.

The US’s biggest share of imports is in neighbouring Canada. South Korea is the only other destination where it has a double-digit share.

Asia is where Chile is most dominant, with its biggest shares in Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia.

Argentina’s share of imports in Australia’s major markets is generally at 5% or lower, with its largest share in Canada at 8%.

Similar to Argentina, South Africa does not have a double-digit volume share in any of Australia’s major destinations. South Africa's largest share is in New Zealand at 8%, where Australia holds sway with a 66% share.

To discover more insights into each of the competitor producers, download the report here.