The US has been the world’s largest wine market since 2010 and the 2% increase in California wine sales from 2015 is a record for the state.
The Daily Democrat spoke to Robert Koch, Wine Institute CEO: “Consumers worldwide recognise the high quality of California wines from diverse regions across the state.
“As consumers in the US and around the world continue to trade up to premium wines, California is ideally positioned.”
Chardonnay remains the largest sold Californian wine variety accounting for 20%, followed by cabernet sauvignon at 15% and red blends amounting to 12%.
The total shipments of sparkling wine and champagne to US markets reached 25.6m cases in 2016, an increase of 14% from the previous year.
90% of exported US wines come from from California and equalled $1.62bn in winery revenues in 2016, equalling 461m liters.
