Oct 19, 2020
China ranks second in terms of vineyards with 870,000 hectares. China’s rapid growth in wine production has fascinated statistic spotters as an animated discussion with wine-interested friends revealed recently.
The problem appears to be that, although China does produce a lot of wine, it produces a lot more table grapes. China also imports a lot of bulk wine leading me to wonder whether that “bulks up” their wine production figures. I went in search of hard cold facts.
According to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) 2017 Statistical Report on World Viticulture, China is the world’s largest producer of grapes. China’s 13.7 million ton grape production is twice the size of the next biggest grape producer, Italy. However, only 11% of China’s grape output is used to make wine. The rest are so-called table grapes or raisins.
China ranks second in terms of vineyards with 870,000 hectares (ha) which rather dwarfs New Zealand’s 36,943 hectares of vineyards (shown as 40,000 in the OIV report). Spain has the largest national vineyard area with 967,000 ha, although ranks third behind Italy and France thanks to lower-yielding vines.
In 2017 China ranked sixth equal (with South Africa) in terms of wine production. Here are the top ten wine producers in 2017:
New Zealand ranked 15th with 2.9 million hectolitres. Source: Bob Campbell MW, The Real Review 30.09.20
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