Chilean wine remains the most popular wine sold in Ireland, holding an impressive 24.7% of the market share, according to a new report released by Ibec trade association Drinks Ireland | Wine.
The annual Wine Market Report 2022 showed that South African wine saw the biggest market share growth by 10%.
The research shows that Spanish, Australian and French were the next favourites respectively.
Overall, per capita consumption of wine was also down by 2% last year, pointing to the continued downward trajectory of Irish alcohol consumption.
Market Share
The research shows that wine’s market share in Ireland decreased by 8.9% in 2022 and 17% on the market share recorded in 2020 during the height of COVID lockdowns when pubs were closed and stay-at-home consumers favoured wine purchases at retail.
Nevertheless, wine remains Ireland’s second favourite drink after beer.
Cormac Healy, director of Drinks Ireland, said, “We are continuing to witness an overall shift in consumption trends, with Ireland moving to a more balanced and moderate approach to drinking."
The report highlights that Irish wine drinkers face the highest excise level on wine in the EU, paying €3.19 per standard bottle of wine (13% ABV).
For sparkling wine drinkers, the excise hit is doubled that, with a rate of €6.37 on a standard bottle.
Excise Tax
The wine sector as whole contributed €385 million in excise alone to the exchequer.
"Today’s report shows a resilient wine category, one with conscious and mindful consumers who relish in the substantial choice of high quality products the category has to offer," Healy added.
"It is therefore disappointing that Irish consumers continue to pay disproportionally high levels of excise duty".
Given the strong public finances and this disproportionately high rate, Drinks Ireland | Wine noted that it is calling for a 15% decrease on excise over the next two budgets.
Favourite Wine
According to the report, white wine remained the favourite of the category (48% market share) while red is a close second (45%) and rosé decreased slightly (6%).
Sparkling wine has become increasingly popular, with its market share up from 2% in 2021 to 2.3% in 2022.
