Special measures post-2011 large harvest
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Swiss wines, in particular white wines, are suddenly all the rage at home, with total wine consumption for Switzerland rising in 2013 by some 10 percent, most of that due to higher consumption of Swiss wines.
Sales and consumption of foreign wines fell by 4 million litres.
Swiss wine stocks were down by close to 10 percent on 31 December, with the production of Swiss white wine falling by 20 percent last year and red wine production down by 12 percent.
The figures reflect a near-record low harvest due to weather conditions.
Consumption up, but less foreign wine was drunk
Figures released by the Federal Agriculture Office (FAO) 22 April for last year show for the country of 8 million inhabitants:
total consumption, 273 million litres, up by 5.5m litres
of that, white wine, 90m litres, up by 6m litres
red wine, 283m litres, down by 1m litres.
For Swiss wine, the figures in 2013:
total consumption, 107m litres (rounded figures), an increase of 10 million litres compared to 2012
of that, Swiss white wine, 53m litres, up by 7m litres
Swiss red wine, 54m, up by 3m litres.
The increase was 5.6 litres more than the average consumption of Swiss wines for the previous three years, 2010-12.
Favourite grapes giving way to others
White grapes account for 42 percent of the total grown in Switzerland and red 58 percent.
Pinot Noir, Chasselas and Gamay, the three most widely grown grape varieties, all lost a little ground last year, while the overall number of hectares planted remain virtually the same at just under 15,000.
Two-year easing of AOC rules played a role
The figures for Swiss wines show a strong increase, especially surprising given that this is the first rise in several years. The FAO cautions that figures need to be looked at over a period of several years to see if this is part of a trend, in particular because the increase is likely due in part to a special situation following the abundant harvest of 2011. The FAO notes, however, that the special measure accounts for a maximum of 3.1m litres, less than one-third of last year’s increase in Swiss wine consumption.
Parliament in 2012 approved measures to allow 3,000 litres of AOC wines to be declassified during 2013 to allow them to be sold as table wine at a lower price than usual. The wines had to be sold by the end of 2013, for delivery by the end of 2014.
Swiss wines in 2012 accounted for 36 percent of the total market. Last year this rose to 39 percent. Swiss white wines are preferred at home, with more than 59 percent of the white wine market, while foreign red wines are stronger, with Swiss reds having only 29 percent of the red wine market.
The news will be particularly cheering for Swiss wineries, who saw their harvest fall by 16.5 percent to 83.9m litres due to a mix of hail and other bad weather conditions. The total harvest was the smallest since 1980, when it was 80m litres.
But the picture varied enormously from one region to another: Neuchatel’s catastrophic harvest was down 54 percent thanks to hail while Ticino had an overly abundance harvest.
South African wine makes serious inroads
Italy, France and Spain, the three main import countries, saw their imports decline, France by more than 9 percent and Spain by 15 percent. South African wines jumped by 28 percent, to some 11m litres, bypassing Portuguese wines for the first time. Italy far outstrips other countries, however, with Switzerland importing 68.8m litres from its southern neighbour, whose red wines remain a favourite. Last year’s figures show a continuing trend in wines from Italy: more bottles, fewer barrels.
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