US named 'most attractive' wine market in Global Compass report

The United States has once again topped the list of the most attractive wine markets in the world,  according to a new report from Wine Intelligence.

In 2020, South Korea rose eight places to take second place, where it remains again this year and the ranking is part of the Global Compass 2021 Report - an annual study that measures key economic and wine market factors to rank wine’s attractiveness in 50 focus countries.

“The US’s strong economic rebound, partly funded by government stimulus, along with a standout year for wine sales, kept it ahead in our rankings,” said Lulie Halstead, CEO at Wine Intelligence.

“However, number two South Korea is gaining fast in our model. Wine growth in the US is tailing off, whereas still wine volume in South Korea grew by more than +11% CAGR 2016-2020, according to IWSR Drinks Market Analysis.”

Globally, the study shows an overall negative average score change compared with 2020. But while total global wine volume and value decreased last year, the Covid-19 pandemic has had some positive effects in certain markets.

Covid restrictions in Scandinavia forced consumers to purchase wine locally instead of crossing borders to buy while the immense surge in ecommerce during lockdowns created an unprecedented growth opportunity for the category.

Due to the impact of the pandemic, tourism-dependent regions such as Spain, Italy, and France have fallen down the annual rankings while South Africa’s alcohol sales bans put the country towards the bottom of the ranking.

“While the Wine Intelligence Global Compass 2021 report explores several factors impacting the global wine industry, Covid of course has been the dominant impact on the model over the past year,” added Halstead.

“But even though global wine consumption has declined, fortunately what we’ve seen is that consumers have pivoted, rather than cancel, their consumption habits, transitioning their going-out behavior into new occasions in the home or in outdoor settings.”