Taking the fizz out of Champagne? Prosecco up 24% in 2016
Champagne has almost double the market value of Prosecco, reaching €1.4bn ($1.5bn) this year, compared to €789m ($838m) for Prosecco. But in terms of volume, 77m liters of Prosecco were bought: 25% more than Champagne.
This also represents a 23% increase in Prosecco volume, while the Champagne market has actually dropped slightly (0.3%). The figures come from retail analyst IRI, regarding the year ending September 30, 2016.
Widespread growth for Prosecco
In France - the home of Champagne and the top market with a value of €921m ($978m) - volumes declined 1.2%. However, the country still accounts for around 66% of Champagne sales analyzed by IRI in Europe. In fact, Champagne liter sales in France are 4.5 times higher than the next biggest consumer (the UK).
“While Champagne growth appears to be slowing significantly across most of Europe (although up in other parts of the world) Prosecco continues to grow and grow in almost every market apart from the Netherlands,” said Tim Eales, strategic insight director at IRI.
“Even Cava, which seemed to fall out of favor with the rise in popularity of Prosecco a few years ago, has seen value and volume increases in most countries this year.”
Sparkling wine
- The lowest average price for Champagne is in Germany
- Champagne prices in the US, NZ and Australia are more than twice the price of Champagne in Germany
- Only the UK and US spend more on Prosecco than Champagne
- The UK drinks 2.5 times more Prosecco than Italy; paying almost twice the price per liter
- Champagne in France is priced at less than two-thirds of the UK price
The overall sparkling wine market, which includes Champagne, Prosecco, Cava and other sparkling wines, is worth almost €4.6bn ($4.9bn) in sales value across Europe, with a further €1.7bn ($1.8bn) across the US, Australia and New Zealand.
Of particular note are the UK, France and Germany: in each of these countries, sales are worth more than €1bn.
Germany has the highest sales for all sparkling wine, at €1.34bn ($1.42bn), followed by the UK at €1.27bn ($1.35bn).
In terms of consumption per head, the French lead on Champagne and the UK leads on Prosecco.
Australians each drink roughly the same amount of Champagne as the Brits do, but twice as much as New Zealanders do.
In the US, Champagne and Prosecco are relatively low in popularity compared to European countries, but IRI sees ‘marked growth’ for these sparkling wines.
