from Felix Richter, Statista.com
by Niall McCarthy
China now has the second-largest vineyard area in the world after Spain, with France falling to third position according to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine.
However, a question has to be asked: how often have you enjoyed a glass of Chinese wine with your evening meal? For most people, the answer would be not too often. Why? More vineyard area does not necessarily mean more wine. A substantial amount of China’s vineyard area is used for growing table grapes and dried fruit.
France still produces the world’s largest volume of wine. In 2014, its 792,000 hectares produced 46.7 million hectoliters with exports amounting to €7.7 billion. Italy is in second place with 44.7 hectoliters while Spain rounds off the top three with 41.6 million. There is a considerable gap to the United States in fourth position with 22.3 million hectoliters while all those Chinese vineyards only managed to churn out 11.1 million hectoliters.
This chart shows global wine production (million hectoliters) and vineyard area (hectares) in 2014.
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