Chardonnay? Cabernet? Syrah? Or if you have done your homework (some while ago), airen?
No, no, no, and no.
But one might say that it is (to some extent) a trick question. The world’s most grown grape variety is not used to make wine. It is a Chinese grape variety. The second most grown variety is used for raisins.
So, if we restrict the question to grapes used for making wine, then one of the four mentioned above is in fact the one with the biggest acreage.
Statistics from OIV, The International Organisation of Vine and Wine, give us all the answers.
Read more on this in Britt’s article on Forbes: The Top Ten Grape Varieties In The World.
Here is the introduction:
Which grape variety is the World’s favorite? Not what you think!
Would you be surprised if I told you that the most grown grape variety in the world is Kyoho? Probably. That is because all grapes are not grown for winemaking. Some are destined to be table grapes or to be dried or to be turned into grape juice. For these purposes, entirely different varieties are used. Most common are Kyoho in China and Sultanina in the US. Some rare ones are used for both wine and for eating, such as Muscat and Chasselas.
If we disregard the table grapes, the most grown grape variety for wine is Cabernet Sauvignon. Maybe not such a big surprise. It is grown on 840,000 acres (340,000 hectares). The total acreage of the world vineyards destined for wine production is roughly 16 million acres (6.5 million hectares).
Read all of Britt’s article on BKWine on Forbes.
