This year’s list of the 10 biggest wine brands by global volume sales shows little movement within the rankings, although with nearly all the featured labels in growth, it is clear that any newcomers hoping to break into this powerful group have their work cut out. One notable omission from this collection of brands due to an absence of reliable sales data, is a number of big hitters from China such as Great Wall, Dynasty or Changyu. Although almost all their production is sold domestically, making them little known outside the Far East, you can be sure that major global brand owners looking to tap into the growing base of Chinese consumers are watching them carefully. One to watch in particular is the state-owned Great Wall, the country’s largest with annual sales estimated at over 15 million bottles. Not content with dominating the domestic production scene, Cofco indicated last year that it had plans to expand its vineyard holdings into other countries too. Another Chinese casting its gaze further afield is Changyu, which last year named its new €70m facility after Austrian producer Lenz Moser, who consults for a brand that is now available around the world, including UK merchant Berry Bros & Rudd.

That said, although the impact of government austerity measures has been more keenly felt in the luxury spirits sector, there are signs that China’s rapidly expanding domestic wine scene is currently experiencing a marked slowdown. The recent IWSR Domestic Volume Report – China 2014 reported that local still light wines “declined sharply as the official banqueting business collapsed.” As a result, it recorded a -15% volume decline in China’s wine production last year. Until China rallies again, as it surely will, it is no coincidence that the world’s other great, but still relatively untapped source of wine consumers continues to provide a significant number of brands in this list. The US may have a population of over 300 million, but only one third of Americans over the legal age of 21 currently drink wine, according to Stephanie Gallo, vice-president of marketing for her family business. Nevertheless, slowly but surely, that figure is increasing as wine steadily builds itself a place in popular culture.

According to the Californian Wine Institute, in 2012, per capita wine consumption in the US was 2.73 gallons (12.4 litres), up from 2.68 gallons the year before. red wine 10 letters(These figures include those not of legal drinking age).best wine list australia 2014 That’s an attractive prospect for any wine brand whose business holds a solid base in the US. good food and wine guide 2014As even Starbucks gets in on the wine retail act, Gallo puts it, “There is nowhere to go but up.”best wine with thanksgiving turkey Read on to discover the full list and analysis of the world’s top 10 wine brands, based on data sourced either directly from the brands themselves or industry estimates.best value wine competition

The Drinks Business Power Brands Report, compiled by the drinks business together with Intangible Business, sees the world’s most influential wine and spirits brands pitted against each other to determine the world’s most powerful based on a scoring matrix. best chocolate wine reviews Focusing on the wine sector, many of the industry’s big hitters returned this year to take their place in the top 10, with some significant shifts.best way to ship wine from italy to us In a top 10 dominated almost entirely by US and Australian wineries, one Chilean winery stood out as the world’s most powerful climbing two spots to be crowned the world’s most powerful wine brand.best wine marketing books Barefoot, owned by California’s E&J Gallo winery, made its debut in the power 10 sliding comfortably into 5th place, while US wine giant Blossom Hill narrowly missed out on a top 10 place having been pushed to 11th.best wine cocktail party

The full report of the wine and spirits industry’s top 100 power brands can be found in June’s issue of the drinks business magazine. Please note, only international brands with a global distribution are featured in this report. Scroll through to see which wine brands were deemed 2014’s most powerful…. Nearly 200 of the largest brands in the wine and spirits industries were scored by nine panelists to derive a list of the 100 most powerful alcoholic drinks brands. Power is defined by a brand’s ability to generate value for its owner. Value is classified by a series of measures as identified below. • Share of market: volume-based measure of market share • Brand growth: projected growth based on five years’ historical data and future trends • Price positioning: a measure of a brand’s ability to command a premium • Market scope: the number of markets in which the brand has a significant presence • Brand awareness: a combination of both prompted and spontaneous awareness

• Brand relevancy: capacity to relate to the brand and a propensity to purchase • Brand heritage: a brand’s longevity and a measure of how it is embedded in local culture • Brand perception: loyalty and how close a strong brand image is to a desire for ownership A panel independently ranked each brand out of 10 on the above measures (10 = high, 0 = low). The scores were aggregated and averaged to reach a total score for each brand. A total score was achieved by multiplying a brand’s weighted volume by its brand score (a derivative of the eight measures of brand strength), within a defined range. The weighting is designed to adjust the volumes to a comparable level."Last year marked a watershed moment as the US overtook France for the first time to become the world’s biggest wine consumer by volume with annual consumption reaching 29.1 million hectolitres."That certainly helps to explain why US-based brands feature so strongly in this list and suggests that their dominance is set to grow.

Indeed, recent IWSR estimates suggest that US wine consumption is due to rise by 11% over the next three years, growth that would put this market’s total at more than double the level anticipated for that former hotbed of interest, China."Jacob’s CreekOwner: Pernod-RicardVolume 2013: 6.6m 9l casesVolume 2014: 6m 9l casesChange: -9%9. BeringerOwner: Treasury EstatesVolume 2013: 7.2m 9l casesVolume 2014: 7.15m 9l casesChange: -0.7%8. LindemansOwner: Treasury EstatesVolume 2013: 7.2m 9l casesVolume 2014: 8.1m 9l casesChange: +12.5%7. Hardy’sOwner: Accolade WinesVolume 2013: 13.2m 9l casesVolume 2014: 9.4m 9l casesChange: -28.8%6. Yellow TailOwner: Casella WinesVolume 2013: 12.5m 9l casesVolume 2014: 10.5m 9l casesChange: -16%5. Sutter HomeOwner: Trinchero FamilyVolume 2013: 11.2m 9l casesVolume 2014: 10.85m 9l casesChange: -3.1%4. Robert MondaviOwner: ConstellationVolume 2013: 11.9m 9l casesVolume 2014: 12.1m 9l casesChange: +1.3%3. Concha y ToroOwner: Concha y ToroVolume 2013: 13.2m 9l casesVolume 2014: 14.2m 9l casesChange: +7.6%2.