Looking at some wine export data for our paper on Romania, we made this chart showing what percentage of its wine production a few select countries are exporting. We thought the rise of New Zealand in late 90s and throughout the 21st century was pretty remarkable. Pulled ahead by its Suavignon Blancs, New Zealand not only massively grew its production but also exporting almost all of this new production. Helped by its reputation from the historical links to anglosaxon countries, such as the UK, US and Australia, it never struggled to find new demand. At the same time, its citizens own preferences for drinking didn't change and despite massively increasing production, it still imports about a third of its average 20 litres per person per year consumption, a lot more than countries that have a similarly thriving export industry such as Italy or Spain.
Tommaso,
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting graph. I've never thought of New Zealand as a wine producing country, or for that matter and wine exporting country. It does make sense to me however, because I have seen the same thing happen in the region I grew up in: the Willamette Valley of Oregon.
As a kid, most of the agriculture in the Willamette Valley was grass seed, Christmas trees, berries and some sweet corn and bush beans. Somewhere around the time I was in high school the number of vineyards in the valley shot up. Now the Willamette valley is developing a name for itself on the national (and maybe international) wine market.