LONDON - China is set to become the world's second biggest wine market by 2020 when sales of still and sparkling wine reach $21 billion in the country, the wine industry's VINEXPO announced here on Wednesday. The data was released by Guillaume Deglise, CEO of VINEXPO, the world's leading wine and spirit exhibition, at a press conference. It is forecast that China, which is currently ranked fourth behind the United States, Britain, and France, will witness a growth of 39.8 percent in retail values in the next three years. The United States will still come out on top with $38 billion by 2020 after a growth of 11.9 percent over last year's volume. VINEXPO is an international wine and spirits exhibition that will be held in Bordeaux, France from June 18 to 21 this year. Wine retailer has many reasons to be cheerful Bulgaria eyes more wine export to China: Minister Chinese wine Noble Dragon sells 100,000 bottles in Spain China's favorite Aussie wine company posts huge profits

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This is according the latest data from the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), detailing reported and estimated data on the global wine industry in 2014. Global wine production, excluding juice and musts, is expected to hit 279 million hectolitres (mhl) in 2014 – a decrease of 4.1% compared with 2013, according to the OIV. One hectolitre represents 100 litres. In 2013, the group recorded 291 mhl of wine produces, just short of the biggest wine production year in the last decade, 2004, when just under 300 mhl of wine was produced. South Africa is listed as the 7th largest wine producer in the world, with an output of 11.3 mhl in 2014, sitting below Australia (12 mhl) and ahead of China (11.1 mha) and Germany (9.3 mha). Having slipped to third position in 2013 (thanks to record crops from Spain and Italy), France regained its position as the world’s top wine producer in 2014, corking 46.6 mhl worth of wine last year. Projections for global consumption in 2014 are estimated at around 240 million hectolitres, with data showing a transfer in wine consumption around the world.

According to OIV, today about 39% of the wine is consumed outside European countries, compared to 31% in 2000. Consuming 30.7 mhl, the United States confirmed its position as the biggest global consumer, while France (27.9 mhl) and Italy (20.4 mhl), resumed their decline in consumption. The level of consumption in China is estimated at 15.8 mhl: a reduction of 1.2 mhl compared to 2013. According to the OIV, as of 2013, 7519 mha is “under vines” across the globe. While this figure is decreasing – due to a reduction in European vineyards – the global production of grapes is increasing. This is due to the increase in the planted surface areas in the rest of the world, most notably in China and South America. China, specifically, produces 15% of the world’s grapes. It currently has the second largest vineyard area in the world at just under 800,000 hectares, below Spain which boasts 1.02 million hectares of vine land. France has reduced its vineyard area to 792,000 hectares, followed by Italy (690,000 ha) and Turkey (502,000 ha).

With over 132,000 hectares of vine land, South Africa accounts for over a third of all vine area in Africa, and has the 14th largest vine area in the world. In 2014, the world wine trade continued to increase in terms of volume (104 million hectolitres, and increase of 2%) to reach a value of 26 billion Euros (R351 billion). South African wine exports experienced a decline of 8.8% to an estimated 4.8 mhl in 2014, seeing the total revenue drop from 625 million Euros (R8.44 billion), to 594 million Euros (R8.02 billion). Despite the drop, South Africa remains the 6th largest exporter of wines, according to OIV’s projected data, though cheaper wines place the country 11th, in terms of revenue. Michael Jordaan heads up wine organisation, WOSA A R1,600 meal prepared by South Africa’s best chef The most popular luxury investments The world’s biggest drinking nationsFor us wine enthusiasts, the name Rudy “Dr. Conti” Kurniawan is as unacceptable in the world of wine as merlot with ice.  

For the uninitiated, Kurniawan was convicted of wine counterfeiting almost 2 years ago, and is now serving his 10-year sentence in California’s Taft Correctional Institute with little more than prison wine to console him. As is usually the case when hustlers deceive customers out of a lot of money, Kurniawan had his assets seized, which are now being disposed of in an attempt to recoup losses suffered by his victims. This includes a whole lot of wine. This begs the question, of course, of whether you would buy wine from this criminal. And not just any wine, but the very faulty wine he was pushing as authentic and that got him a 10 year prison sentence. It seems US Marshals are selling off a whole bunch of wine owned by Kurniawan. In fact, 4,711 bottles from Kurniawan’s cellar are available at auction through Gaston and Sheehan online. According to Decanter Magazine 392 bottles in Kurniawan’s collection were found to be counterfeit, and another 192 were deemed unfit for sale.