Wine exporters looking at best year since 2000
This year has been an outstanding year for the globalisation of Portuguese wines and is believed to be the best year since 2000 for exports, which have now reached the realms of European royalty.
It has been calculated that during the first six months of this year exports of Portuguese wines reached an estimated €184 million. This puts the commercialisation of Portuguese wines on a fast track, with 2009 being one of the best years in recent history.Last week at a gala held in Stockholm’s luxurious Town Hall, organised to distinguish European businesswomen, some 400 people, including Princess Victoria of Sweden enjoyed a Periquita Reserve 2005 wine by Portuguese producer José Maria da Fonseca.
This justified suspicion there has been a growing preference within the Scandinavian country for Portuguese wines, where exports have boomed. The amount of wine exported to Sweden over the first six months of this year surpassed the total amount exported in 2008, in both financial and quantitative figures.
Between January and June this year sales of Portuguese wine brought in €183,543 million, 70 percent of the total sold in 2008, and, it has been estimated that the price per exported litre of wine has increased by 36 percent.
Afonso Correia, President of the National Institute for Wine and Vines (IVV) said “Everything is indicating that this year we could have our best year yet in terms of value. We are managing to sell at a better price”.
Angola is currently Portugal’s biggest buyer of national wines, with 334.911 hectolitres being sold there by June this year, totalling €36 million and an 84 percent growth in comparison to the same period of 2008. It is a strategic market for producers such as Esporão, which makes the popular Monte Velho wines and sells 30 percent more to Angola than to the USA and Brazil.
