Grapes & wine
Vine fruit eaten fresh, dried as raisins or fermented into wine, with the high-value wine trade dominated by France and Italy.
Fruit, roots & pulses · No. 120
- Not on a critical list
- HHI 833 · unconcentrated
China grows the most grapes, but France and Italy earn more than half of every dollar spent on exported wine.
Chart: Illustration: Grapes & wine
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
Vines grow grafted onto pest-resistant rootstocks, take years to bear and then crop for decades; the world harvested 75.9 million tonnes of grapes in 2024.
Three things to know
- Wine exports were worth $38.0 billion in 2024, about three times the trade in grapes themselves, and France and Italy took 56.3%.
- Peru and Chile lead fresh grape exports with 13.9% and 12.1%, filling northern winter shelves, while the United States takes 22.6% of imports.
- A 2003 frost cut Champagne yields to 8,250 kg per hectare, against an average of 10,400.
The journey
- 1 Grafted vinesPest-resistant rootstocks, cropping for decades
- 2 HarvestPicked when sugar and acid balance
- 3 Cold chainTable grapes cooled fast and shipped
- 4 WineryWine grapes crushed and fermented
- 5 CellarAged, blended, bottled or shipped bulk