The European Union's sparkling wine exports to the rest of the world fell last year for the first time in a decade, Eurostat announced today, mainly due to a massive drop in champagne sales. In contrast, Prosecco and Cava sold well.
The COVID-19 pandemic dampened global wine trade in 2020 as restaurants and bars remained closed for long periods of time.
Champagne was hit hardest. Sales of the famous French sparkling wine outside the EU fell by over 20% to 66 million liters in 2020, from almost 84 million liters in the previous year.
This largely contributed to an overall 6% decrease in EU sparkling wine exports last year compared to 2019.
EU exports fell from a high of 528 million liters in 2019 to 494 million liters in 2020 - still almost twice as high as in 2010.
Of the three main sections that are exported from the EU, only champagne recorded a significant decrease in volume.
By far the most exported Prosecco recorded sales of 205 million liters outside the EU in 2020, compared to almost 207 million liters in 2019.
Cava, which is made in Spain, bucked the trend and was able to increase its extra-EU exports by more than 10% to 58 million liters in 2020 and approached champagne as the second most popular EU sparkling wine outside of the 27-nation block.
Total sales of champagne, including in the EU, fell by 18% in volume last year.
Despite the decline in sales, vintage champagnes have proven to be a lucrative draw for investors this year, outperforming all major financial market assets from big tech to bitcoin. The 2002 vintage of Salon le Mesnil increased by more than 80% on online platforms in 2021.
Source
Hansa Terminhandel GmbH