ABSTRACT
The global production level of wine stands at around 27 billion litres a year (Key Note, 2011). The UK consumes 12.9 million hectolitres1 or 4.8% of the world’s wine production; this is equivalent to 21 l per capita per year (HMRC, 2012). However, only 3% of this is produced in the UK, so that the UK wine sector is heavily dependent on imports. It is thus not surprising that, with an estimated value of £11.8 billion (retail selling price), the UK was the world’s largest market in 2010 for imported wines (Key Note, 2011). Prior to that, the UK was ranked 3rd behind the USA and France in terms of national shares of world wine consumption value (Anderson and Nelgen, 2011), while for total consumption volumes for 2011 the UK was ranked 6th behind France, USA, Italy, Germany and China (OIV, 2012). As shown in Fig. 1, Australian wines are most popular with the UK consumer, with around 17% adults buying these wines (Key Note, 2011). The next most popular are French wines (13%).
