The US drinks more wine by volume than any other country in the world, with a huge 3,073.5 million litres consumed in 2016. The volume is predicted to rise 4.9% by 2020 and will be worth $38.6 billion USD, so it goes without saying that the US wine market is a huge industry, so much so, grapes are the highest value fruit crop in the USA and represent 32% of all non-citrus fruit produced.
The USA accounts for 10% of the world's grape production and 5% of the global grape acreage. The USA also produces around 8% of the world's wine, and exports globally. There are almost 8,000 wineries in the US.
By far the biggest wine producing state is California. Out of the 806.45 million gallons produced in the US in 2016, 680.27 million gallons were produced in California. California is home to the world renowned Napa Valley, a 2044 squared kilometre region close to San Francisco. While the name is known all over the world, it actually only produces around 4% of the wine in California. The most produced wine in the region is Cabernet Sauvignon, which takes up about 40% of the wine production.
US wine is exported all over the world. In 2016, US wine exports earned a record $1.62 billion USD. 90% of these came from California which increased in value by 18% in the UK. By 2020, The Californian Wine Institute predicts that it will achieve $400 million USD in UK sales. The rise in value of the US dollar is creating some challenges for exporters from the US as demand in Europe is decreasing as the US dollar aligns with the value of the Euro. That said, the European Union is in the top five importers of US wine, alongside Canada, China, Japan and Mexico. The wine exportation from America was worth 4.8% in 2016 of the world export total ad is one of the fastest growing wine exporters in the world after New Zealand, Hong Kong and China.
The USA was the top importer of foreign wines in 2016 with a total of 17.7% of global wine imports. This was an increase in 9.3% from 2015. The most popular countries to import wine from are Italy, France, Australia, New Zealand and Spain who are all world renowned wine growing countries. There was a substantial decrease in imports from South America as imports from Argentina were down over 20% and Chile were down over 15% from the previous year.
Wine is also very important for the US tourism industry. People travel from all over the world to experience a tour of the Napa Valley for other wine regions, and every year there are 30 million winery visits which provide over 50,000 jobs for American citizens. Package holidays revolving around wine tastings and locations in America are available from all over the globe, and regions such as the Napa Valley are world renowned amongst wine experts and enthusiasts and this results in a huge tourist income.
The economic impact of the top ten wineries in California are worth $71.2 billion USD alone, followed by New York which has an impact of $13.8 billion USD and Texas with $13.1 billion USD. While California steals the spotlight, the rest of the country is still contributing a substantial amount.
The largest consumers of wine are millennials and baby boomers, which has seen a change to the marketing in wine and a tilt in trends, such as an increase in consumption and interest in prosecco, rose and sparkling wine. The most popular wines are chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and blends of red wine. Sangria is also becoming more popular, although consumption is heavily weighted in the warmer months. Millennials are a key group to economic growth, and their growing interest in the wine industry has many positive effects for wine and is leading it towards a bright future.
With over 550,000 locations in the US that sell wine including such diverse places as car washes, bookshops and movie theatres, the US wine industry is massive and ever expanding. Wine sales are increasing both internally and externally, in numbers and in value, and the business is set to have a very strong and prosperous future.