The European Union's exports of sparkling wine to the rest of the world fell in 2020 for the first time in a decade, Eurostat data showed, largely because of a massive drop in champagne sales, although prosecco and cava sold well.
The COVID-19 pandemic dampened wine trade globally in 2020, the latest year for which data are available, as restaurants and bars remained closed for long periods.
Champagne Sees Significant Drop
Champagne was hit the hardest, the data showed. Sales outside the EU of the famed French sparkling wine fell over 20% by volume to 66 million litres in 2020 from nearly 84 million litres the previous year.
That largely contributed to a 6% overall drop in EU exports of sparkling wines in 2020 compared to 2019, the Eurostat data showed.
EU exports fell from a peak of 528 million litres in 2019 to 494 million litres in 2020 - still nearly twice the level recorded in 2010.
Of the three main categories of sparkling wine exported from the EU, only champagne recorded a significant drop by volume.
Stable Performance For Prosecco
Prosecco, which is by far the most exported, recorded sales outside the EU of 205 million litres in 2020, compared to nearly 207 million litres in 2019.
Cava, which is produced in Spain, bucked the trend by increasing its extra-EU exports by more than 10% to 58 million litres in 2020, getting closer to replacing champagne as the second most sold EU sparkling wine outside the 27-nation bloc.
Total champagne sales, including in the EU, fell 18% by volume in 2020, producers' group CIVC has estimated.
Despite the drop in sales by volume, vintage champagnes have proven a lucrative draw for investors last year, outperforming all major financial market assets from Big Tech to bitcoin.
Salon le Mesnil's 2002 vintage surged more than 80% in value in 2021 on online platforms.
News by Reuters, edited by ESM. For more Drinks news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
