With their history in winemaking dating back not centuries but millenniums, Italy and France have always been at the pinnacle of the global wine industry. To this day, the two European countries are world leaders in viticulture, with their wines renowned and enjoyed in all parts of the world.
According to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), Italy has been the world’s largest wine producer for 9 of the past 10 years with an annual production of roughly 50 million hectoliters or five billion liters. Best known for its exquisite red wines - think Barolo, Barbaresco or Brunello - Italy’s white wines are not to be underestimated either.
With its rich heritage steeped in tradition and expertise, France holds its ground against Italy as a paragon of winemaking, boasting diverse regions like Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne. With an average annual production of around 45 million hectoliters over the past decade, France isn’t far behind Italy in terms of output, and definitely not in terms of quality.
As our latest Racing Bars video illustrates, Spain completes the triumvirate of European wine superpowers, who have cemented their place in the top 3 of global wine producers, with countries like the United States, Australia, Chile, Argentina and South Africa following at a considerable distance and in changing order. China, once thought to be an emerging superpower in winemaking, has seen both domestic consumption and production decline in the past decade, after years of what many experts considered unsustainable growth.
