Top 10 biggest Champagne markets

As this year’s harvest in Champagne wraps up, producers seem to be quietly confident that 2014 could be a successful vintage.

Following a relatively bad summer, the vintage was rescued by a warmer September with Chardonnay said to have been “the winner of the 2014 harvest”, according to Bruno Paillard from the Champagne house by the same name.

As we await to hear if 2014 will be declared a vintage year, the world will tomorrow raise a toast to Champagne on what will be the fifth global #ChampagneDay – a 24-hour social media event that celebrates the historic region.

The Champagne Bureau UK will be joining in the fun by inviting people to tweet a #ChampagneToastie “selfie” in front of popular London landmarks using the Twitter handle @champagne_uk for the chance to win a prize.

A “Thunderclap” will also take place with the the aim of raising a virtual toast to Champagne to promote the region throughout Twitter, Facebook  or Tumblr.

Despite global Champagne shipments falling for a second consecutive year, dropping by 1.5% or five million bottles, half of the world’s top 10 export markets achieved some growth.

Of the 304,973,710 bottles of Champagne produced in 2013, 136,640,110 were exported with France taking the remaining lion’s share of 167,333,600 bottles.

Click through to see our round up of the world’s biggest Champagne export markets as you reach for your flutes and raise a glass to Champagne.

(Figures provided by the Champagne Bureau UK)

10. Sweden

Gothenburg, Sweden

2,495,188 bottles shipped

The Swedes quaffed their way through 2.5 million bottles of Champagne in 2013, a rise of 7.64% on the previous year.

9. Spain

3,066,022 bottles shipped

While Cava may be its national sparkler, the Spanish have quite a taste for Champagne consuming more than three million bottles in 2013, despite shipments slipping by 1.92%.

8. Switzerland

Montreux, Switzerland.

5,137,664 bottles shipped

Switzerland saw imports of Champagne decline by 4.07% in 2013.

7. Italy

Abruzzo, Italy

5,359,536 bottles shipped

Imports of Champagne took the biggest hit in Italy, where shipments fell by 14.18% in 2013.

6. Australia

6,023,165 bottles shipped

Champagne shipments to Australia have been steadily rising in recent years with 2013 no exception. Australia achieved the second biggest growth of the top 10 markets in 2013 with shipments rising by a respectable 11.4%, making it the sixth largest Champagne market in the world.

5. Belgium

Dinant on the River Meuse in the Belgian province of Namur

9,525,304 bottles shipped

The biggest growing top 10 Champagne market of 2013 was Belgium where shipments jumped by a healthy 14.1%. Despite being a relatively small country, the people of Belgium managed to put away nearly 10 million bottles of Champagne in 2013.

4. Japan

Mount Fuji, Japan

9,674,446 bottles shipped

The only Asian market to appear in the top 10, Japan is continuing to develop a taste for Champagne with shipments increasing by 6.7% in 2013.

3. Germany

Vineyards in the German village of Pillnitz in Saxony.

12,362,568 bottles shipped

Germany’s taste for Champagne stood firm in 2013 experiencing only a slight drop in shipments of 1.57%, comfortably maintaining its top three position.

2. United States

Crater Lake in the US state of Oregon

17,853,267 bottles shipped

Shipments of Champagne to the US continued to grow in 2013, albeit by just 0.93%, with more than 17.8 million bottles shipped in 2013, an increase of 160,000 bottles compared to 2012.

1. UK

30,786,727 bottles shipped

Despite UK Champagne shipments slipping by 5.1% in volume and 3.8% in value last year, UK imports were valued at €447.2 million in 2013 with the UK remaining by a wide margin the largest Champagne export market for the 18^th year running, 72% ahead of nearest rival the United States. Of a total 136.6 million bottles exported from Champagne, 30.8 million were shipped to Britain – almost a quarter of the total.