We just received some new statistics on organic wines, the production and the consumer demand (than you Millesime Bio). Both organic wine production and the appetite from customers for organic wines continue to rise. Here are some numbers for France:
Organic wine production:
- 61,055 hectares of organic vineyards in 2011, an increase with 21% on 2010! Over for years the acreage has almost tripled. Languedoc is the biggest organic wine producing region in France
- 7.4% of the French vineyards are now organically managed
- There are 4,692 producers of organic wine in 2011, up with 19% from 2010
Organic wine consumption:
- One out of three wine consumers in France regularly or occasionally drink organic wine according to a market survey by Ipsos/SudVinBio
- Sales of organic wines are up 11% on 2010 and has reached 259M euro
- It is also said that organic wines account for 34% of French wine exports
- France is the world’s third largest organic wine producer, after Spain and Italy
If one compares the trends in production and consumption it seems that new organic producers are moving towards the lower price end. But that might be jumping to conclusions?
It is perhaps important to underline that today we speak about “organic wine” within the EU and not of “wine made from organically grown grapes” as used to be the case. Since early this year there are rules also in the wine cellar for what an organic producer can do.
For those interested to know more on organic wine we can recommend to read our new book: Wine and the environment, organic, biodynamic, and natural. (But first you would need to learn Swedish or help us find a foreign publisher!)
