2005 Sales of California Wines Up, US to be No. 1 Wine Market
Sales of Californian wines were up by 6.5 Million Cases in 2005 over the 181.5 Million cases sold in 2004. Overall consumption of wine is up for Americans and slated to surpass France by the end of the decade to become the number one wine consuming nation in the world. Wine imported from Italy, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa was also up. Exports from the U.S. fell however, showing that the rest of the world isn’t as enamored with American wines as we are. But the overall picture for the wine industry remains bright.
“From the perspective of 3 1/2 decades in the wine industry, I can assure you right now that things have never been better in this market and the future looks outstanding,” Woodside wine analyst Jon Fredrikson said in a speech at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in Sacramento, the largest wine conference in the United States.
