Systembolaget is the monopoly wine retailer in Sweden and (as a consequence) one of the largest wine and spirits retailers in the world. Here are some top-ten sales lists for January to August 2008:
Red wines sold in bottle:
– Hidden Rock Petit V Cab S 410,105 bottles
– Penfolds Rawson’s Retr Shir Cab 356,099 bl
– Viña Maipo Carmenere 334,663 bl
– Selvarossa Salice Salentino 322,752 bl
– Campolieti Ripasso 288,846 bl
– Monterosso Sangiovese 257,254 bl
– Mauro Primitivo 257,111 bl
– J P Chenet Cabernet-Syrah 248,955 bl
– Ecologica Shiraz 241,595 bl
– Jacob’s Creek Shiraz Cab 232,751 bl
White wines sold in bottle:
– Lindemans Chard Bin 65 295,579 bl
– Ecologica St Florent Tor Chard 276,918 bl
– Foot of Africa Chenin Bl 251,697 bl
– Black Tower Rivaner 212,453 bl
– Jacob’s Creek Chardonnay 197,881 bl
– Fontana Candida Frascati 179,182 bl
– Penfolds Koonunga Hill Chard 171,406 bl
– Hidden Rock Colom Verdelho 167,509 bl
– Chapel Hill Riesling Sauvig Bl 165,156 bl
– J P Chenet Colombard Chardonnay 161,093 bl
If you take the top ten regardless of colour, seven are reds and three are whites. Looking at it from an ‘Old World’ perspective, the top ranking French red wine is in seventh place and in tenth place for the whites.
Top ten wines, counted in units sold (bottle, bag-in-box, tetrapak,…):
– Aussie Great White Chard papp 1l WHITE WINE 1,221,348 units
– Castillo de Gredos Blanco papp 1 l WHITE WINE 1,213,074 units
– Aussie Kangarouge Shiraz papp 1 l RED WINE 1,091,421 units
– Castillo de Gredos Tinto papp 1 l RED WINE 1,048,891 units
– California White papp 1 l WHITE WINE 933,450 units
– Foot of Africa Chenin Bl Box 3L WHITE WINE 649,117 units
– J P Chenet Cabernet-Syrah box 3 l RED WINE 618,517 units
– Chapel Hill Riesling Sauv Bl box 3l WHITE WINE 512,009 units
– Mauro Primitivo box 3 l RED WINE 491,802 units
– Spanskt Lant tetra 1 l RED WINE 459,413 units
And if you instead count in volume (total litres sold):
– Foot of Africa Chenin Bl Box 3L WHITE WINE 1,947,351 liter
– J P Chenet Cabernet-Syrah box 3 l RED WINE 1,855,551 liter
– Chapel Hill Riesling Sauv Bl box 3l WHITE WINE 1,536,027 liter
– Mauro Primitivo box 3 l RED WINE 1,475,406 liter
– Chill Out Sunset CS box 3 l RED WINE 1,344,075 liter
– Aussie Great White Chard papp 1l WHITE WINE 1,221,348 liter
– Castillo de Gredos Blanco papp 1 l WHITE WINE 1,213,074 liter
– Barone Ricasoli Formulae box 3 l RED WINE 1,151,562 liter
– Podium Pinotage 3 l box RED WINE 1,134,219 liter
– Drostdy-Hof Cape Red box 3 l RED WINE 1,129,458 liter
Curiously, the balance between red and white is almost 50/50 when it comes to these volume sellers.
