The sparkling wine market - Spain

1.1 Definition and scope of study

Sparkling wines (also known as effervescent or sparkling) are wines with a sufficient concentration of carbon dioxide to give them effervescent properties. There are several categories, depending on their CO2 content, from the lowest to the highest:

• ‘Light' sparkling wine (Typically a dry white wine)
• Sparkling wine (Pressure: 1-2.5 bars)
• Sparkling wine (Pressure: >3 bars)

Over the last twenty years, the world wine market has undergone considerable change. One phenomenon that has attracted the attention of many industry observers and analysts is the rise of sparkling wines. Overall, the market is growing worldwide. The global production of sparkling wines amounted to 2000 million litres in 2018, reaching 7% of total wine production, and 20% of global exports by value.

Another interesting aspect of this market is the diversification of sparkling wine production, as in 2000, 74% of sparkling wines were produced by four EU countries (France, Italy, Germany and Spain). Spain is the 4th largest producer of sparkling wine in the world, preceded by Italy, France and Germany. Since 2000, sparkling wine production has doubled, with an annual growth rate of around 4%. Cava remains the most produced category of sparkling wine in Spain, accounting for more than half of the national production. In 2020, with the coronavirus crisis, wine sales dropped by 14.2% in total, with a drop of 11.21% for the sparkling wine segment. Another consequence of this health crisis is the explosion of online sales.