|  If you read any book on wine or ampelographic published before 2012, chances are you’d vote for the ubiquitous white Spanish grape Airen as the global leader of the pack with wine lakes full of these grapes in Spain. However, the data released by Wine Economics Research Center over a week ago, dispels that belief.
‘Which Grape Varieties are Grown Where-a global empirical picture’-is a statistical compendium by the Executive Director of the Center, Prof Kym Anderson assisted by Nanda Aryal. Based on the Database listing 44 countries with elaborate details of the Surface Area, grape varieties and various rankings, Airen has been displaced by King Cabernet Sauvignon with a surface area of 290,091 hA and a 6.3% share of the whole market. Merlot (2) had a surface area of 267,169 hA and a share of 5.48 % while the Airen which has seen a fall of around 50% since 1990 to 232,561hA has been relegated to the third spot.
Tempranillo (4) and Chardonnay (5) follow the top three varieties followed by Shiraz (6), Grenache (7), Sauvignon Blanc (8), Tuscan Trebbiano (9) and Pinot Noir (10). Besides Airen, the grape varieties losing popularity are the Georgina variety Rkatsiteli which has seen the maximum drop of over 85% since 1990. Top ten varieties command a surface area of over 42% of the total in the world.
Although declining due to the EU uprooting incentives, Spain continues to have the largest grown vineyard area, followed by France and Italy, USA and Argentina. However, in terms of volume of wine produced, France is the leader followed by Italy, Spain, USA and Argentina. Because of higher value wines, the US holds no. 2 position following France for the wines-by-value rankings. Italy is number 3 followed by Spain. Australia and Germany vie for the 5th spot in value.
The Compendium is a kaleidoscopic collection and formation of data that is fascinating for the wine lovers and academics but a useful tool for the industry and those following the trends, including the ampelographers. It gives the information with charts as well as in Excel form. A delightful feature of the book is that each chapter heading in the contents table is clickable, taking you directly to that chapter.
You may use the ‘Rotate View’ feature of the PDF version, when needed. The whole document is fully searchable.
Another noteworthy feature is that the data compares the 2010 figures with 2000, enabling the readers to forecast trends and find various other uses.
Although in the book form it may be purchased for $77, our readers may download it for free at Click Here With a request that the source is fully given the credit while using for any reference:
The 44 countries include Myanmar with 75 hA of surface area! But surprisingly India with a surface area of about 3500 hA- almost the same as Japan, is missing. I asked Prof. Kym Anderson, Executive Director of the Center. ‘We were very keen to include India in the dataset, and we approached various people to try to locate area data by variety and ideally also by region within the country. But unfortunately we found no such data, and gave up when we received the reply below from the Indian Grape Processing Board. 'Dear Anderson, as you will realize, the Wine Grape data is not easily available as this industry is still in nascent Stage. Farmers have not yet planned or have registered the acreage properly. We are in the process of developing a system where the Grape Growers will be asked to register. Currently Govt. of Maharashtra Agriculture Department is training their staff about the Software which is initiated by IGPB. However I will try to get as much as possible information. Dhananjay Datar- Chief Operating Office IGPB.’
Finding it as a strange anomaly, with an established Grape Board for the last 5 years and the Karnataka Wine Board even longer, Indian Wine Academy tried to contact various stakeholders –including Datar who seemed flustered with the lack of information and explained why a government body could not give information unless it was authentic. Based on the information we collected from various sources, the following information was sent to the learned professor:
‘I have been checking up with various authorities in India after hearing from you. Although no one is willing to stick their neck out, we at the Indian Wine Academy don't mind making informed guesses under the current scenario, despite our limited resources. Based on my discussions with various sources, including Mr. Datar who is no longer working with IGPB, National Research Center-Pune, Karnataka Wine Board, Mr. Jagdish Holkar- Chairman of IGPB, it is my estimate that:
In 2010, the surface area in Maharashtra was 7000 acres and Karnataka around 1000 acres, taking the total to 8,000 acres. About 60% of this was red grapes-mostly Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon followed by Zinfandel, Merlot and 40% were white varietals-mostly Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, and small quantities of Chardonnay. Details are not available at the moment though the exercise of collecting the data is underway. Since 2010 we have also added Sangiovese, Pinot Noir, Muscatel, Tempranillo, Grenache, Nero d'Avola, Grillo etc. but the quantities are very small.
We had 9000 acres of vines in Maharashtra till 2007 but uprooting process started in 2008-09 due to slack in demand and over production. It went down to 5000 acres in 2012-13 and now is again on the rise. I hope the information is of value to you. Karnataka is approaching 2000 acre surface area. I would estimate a total of about 7500 acres of vines in India as of now.’
I also had a look at the data for the previous years from your Compendium. That seems to tally with the data from OIV but apparently it includes the eating grapes and grapes for raisins too. I am giving data estimates only for the wine grapes. Cav. Subhash Arora-President, Indian Wine Academy.’
Prof. Anderson, who was quick to acknowledge informed delWine earlier this morning, writes ‘Many thanks for that intelligence – very interesting. It would suggest India’s winegrape area in 2010 was already about 1/10th that of China’s. We would love to see them once they are collected, as we will be revising out database later this year.’
This will ensure India’s entry back into the Compendium. Incidentally, India occupied a prominent position in the previous edition, apparently because the statistics included the eating grapes as well as, placing it as the 10th largest grape producer. A similar report by OIV had placed India as the ninth largest producer of grapes in the world.
An earlier Edition, Global Wine Markets, 1961 to 2009: A Statistical Compendium, published by the University of Adelaide Press is also freely available as an ebook. Click HERE
An earlier grape-related article may be visited at WWS 2013: Ginormous Galaxy of Grapes
Subhash Arora
Which
Winegrape Varieties are Grown Where? |