Olé, Olé, Olé! Old world is out and new world is in when it comes to Irish wine tastes this year.
The latest Ibec report has Chile’s market share at 25 per cent, up from 14.9 per cent in 2000. Spain has nudged ahead of Australia, thanks in part to Campo Viejo, to claim second spot with 14 per cent versus the latter’s 13.6 per cent, a leap from 2000 when they were 5.7 per cent and 16.7 per cent respectively.
The 2024 Top Wine Brands report by Retail News magazine has Santa Rita at number one, Casillero del Diablo second, McGuigan third, Barefoot fourth and Dadá Art Wine fifh, unchanged since 2023. Interestingly, numbers three to five are all on the sweet side, as is number six, I Heart Wine.
Irish drinkers have swapped classic French wines for sweeter Australian, Spanish and Chilean varieties
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Back in 1986, when wine was the preserve of the middle classes or late-night revellers in basement nightclubs in Leeson Street, wine only had a 6 per cent share of the Irish alcohol market, but the 2022 Ibec wine report puts it at 26.7 per cent, having peaked in 2020 at 32 per cent. That’s a lot of wine and translates in the last decade to about 8.5 to 9 million cases annually.
Prior to the lift-off, France had about a 50 per cent market share. Wine in supermarkets was barely a thing, Superquinn aside, and traditional merchants like Findlaters and Mitchells sold plenty of classic French wines to the middle classes. For the novice drinker there was Mateus Rosé, Blue Nun, Black Tower, Piat d’Or and Pedrotti. They all had notable sweetness and while those brands have declined, the novice drinker’s appetite for sugar has not.
France is now down to 11.6 per cent down from 23 per cent in 2000. The USA has dropped to 6.4 per cent as drinkers desert Blossom Hill for other sugary wines, declining from 14.1 per cent in 2000. Italy, though, thanks to an ocean of pinot grigio and prosecco, has risen to 10.4 per cent from 8.9 per cent in 2000.
As the new wine-drinking population grew it was attracted, naturally, to smoother, fruitier wines than classic traditionally tannic reds such as Bordeaux that needed ageing. Spain initially helped provide it with Rioja and Torres, but Australia really opened the floodgates from the late Eighties onwards. Jacob’s Creek led the way, supported by Rosemount, Wolf Blass and Lindemans.
Unlike some of today’s big Aussie sellers like McGuigan, Yellow Tail and 19 Crimes, they didn’t do it with elevated sugar levels, but with intensely fruity soft reds and tropical fruit and vanilla (ie oak) scented chardonnay. Along with easy to pronounce names, the Aussies essentially reinvented wine for a new generation and the Irish fell in love. For those with a sweeter tooth, California sent us Gallo and Blossom Hill.
Australia’s market share boomed though the Nineties and Noughties, taking the number one spot as France declined. The Chileans, though, were waiting in the long grass and went from selling about 8,000 cases in 1995 to approximately 400,000 cases today.
Chile has overtaken Australia and France to hold the highest market share in Ireland
KEITH LEVIT
Hidden among these figures are style trends. Organic, low-intervention, so-called natural wines have been around for nearly 15 years, championed by a younger, environmentally aware generation, keen to save the planet one bottle at a time. They also tend to have lower alcohol levels with little or no oak use in contrast to the previously dominant style since the Eighties of super-ripe, oaky, high-alcohol reds.
Natural wines, although niche in sales terms, have influenced the market by changing preferences, according to the specialist importer Mick O’Connell of Neighbourhood Wines, who says: “It’s like politics, where extreme stuff pulls the conversation that way.”
Other trends include a surge in celebrity-branded wines, rosé and prosecco, and sometimes all three combined, as with Kylie Minogue’s and Graham Norton’s wines. Kevin O’Mahony of Barry & Fitzwilliam, who imports both, says: “New consumers find them fun and easy to relate to, as they’re more interested in personalities and social media than winemaking.” Sales are so strong for Norton that his brand has broken into Retail News’ Top 20 brands at number 17.
The Irish wine scene has also changed significantly in that a once brand-dominated market has now embraced supermarket label wines, thanks in no small part to the arrival of Aldi and Lidl.