France imports more wine than you might think. Last year the country imported a record amount of wine and most of it was cheap bulk wine from Spain. In total France imported 7.2 million hectolitres last year, an increase of 11 % from 2014. 81 % of this was bulk wine and 75 % came from Spain. It was mostly simple wine with no geographical origin. In average the French paid 0.32 euros per litre for this wine. The French equivalent would have cost 1.06 euros per litre.
France also imports some bulk wine from South Africa, a total of 230,000 hectolitres last year. Also Italian wine is exported to France, more in bottle than in bulk. Sparkling wines account for 3 % of the French wine imports.
France’s own production was last year was 47 million hectolitres. What do the French do with all this Spanish bulk wine? We wonder. Read more vitisphere.com
