Spain becomes world’s biggest wine producer

Spanish vineyards outperformed all others in the world last year

Raise a glass – early estimates from Spain’s agriculture ministry have revealed that Spain produced more wine than any other country in the world last year, including traditional market leaders Italy and France.

However, while this is great news for Spain’s winemakers, local bars and bodegas may not quite be feeling the benefit: the Spanish Wine Federation has also revealed the rather shocking fact that Spaniards drink less wine per capita than all other nations in Europe bar Norway…But first, back to the vineyards. Spain produced 50 million hectolitres of wine in 2013, easily beating Italy’s 47 million and France’s 42 million. In layman’s terms, there were 6.7 billion bottles of wine produced in Spain last year, thanks largely to the country’s wetter-than-usual summer months combining with the like-clockwork sunny weather to produce a bumper crop.

However, according to the Spanish Wine Market Observatory, a concerted effort to improve efficiency in vineyards – introduced 25 years ago – is finally starting to bear fruit, hence the record-breaking haul.

“We have spent many years in improving the vineyards,” said the Observatory’s director, Rafael del Rey.  Before the efficiency measures were introduced – in which less productive vines were killed off and machines used instead of handpickers where possible – Spanish vineyards produced an average of 17 hectolitres per hectare. Last year, that figure averaged 50 hectolitres per hectare.

As a result, said del Rey, “the vineyards’ productivity has improved noticeably.”

More Spanish wine does not mean more Spanish wine drinkers, however. “In the past two years, Spain has been exporting more than double the amount of wine it consumes,” said the secretary general of the Spanish Wine Federation, Pau Roca. “Apart from Norway, Spain is the country with the lowest wine consumption per capita in Europe.”

Spanish wine exports remain dominated by produce from Rioja and Cava, yet it is Castile-La Mancha that produces the most wine domestically, accounting for more than half of all wine made in Spain.

“Unfortunately, wine from our region is still not sufficiently appreciated, especially in the foreign market,” said Jesus del Perdon cooperative viticulturist, Jorge Martinez, who hails from Castile-La Mancha.

Overseas, there is also the question of quality perception. On average, Spanish wine sells for half the price of French wine, exerting financial pressure on Spain’s already beleaguered winemakers.

With Spanish wine cheap, plentiful and good quality, then there really is only one thing for it – get yourself to your local winery or bodega, order a few bottles of Castile-La Mancha wine, and do your bit for Spain’s economy. Really, it’s the least you can do!