New Zealand has been ranked as the 10th most affordable country to buy wine in, beating neighbouring Australia at 27th and giving overseas visitors even more reason to come here, a major survey has found.
New Zealand has been ranked as the 10th most affordable country to buy wine in, beating neighbouring Australia at 27th and giving overseas visitors even more reason to come here, a major survey has found.
The 2016 Wine Price Index, undertaken by international motorhome rental platform SHAREaCAMPER, shows New Zealand’s average cost is $15.21 for a 750ml bottle of wine and that Kiwis drink an average of 25.8 litres of wine per capita each year, ranking 17th in the world for most litres consumed. Paraguay is the least expensive country on $10.44 per bottle, with the United Arab Emirates calculated as the most expensive on $53.93 per bottle.
The comprehensive study compares wine prices in 65 countries worldwide, averaging and comparing local and imported wine prices, with the task of allowing travellers and wine lovers a bird’s eye view on the consumer wine industry across the globe. New Zealand also offers the 10th least expensive local wine cost (out of countries which produce their own wine) at $13.54 per 750ml bottle.
The country with the most affordable local wine is Nepal, where travellers can snaffle a bottle for $7.17 on average, and an imported bottle can be purchased in South Africa for $8.40. The most expensive local wine is available in Venezuela for $35.85.
Countries that consume the most wine per capita annually are Luxembourg (61.3 litres), Portugal (55.4 litres) and France (53.6 litres).
“Wine tourism connects travellers with local culture and is consistently a great source of wonderful memories,” SHAREaCAMPER chief executive Florian Dahlmann says. “It may be the romantic or the relaxing aspects of the drink, but we see a consistent and growing number of our travellers picking wineries as a premier destination.
“Wine tourism is one of the fastest growing travel trends of 2016. With many vineyards now opening their grounds for campers to stay and sample the local wine, SHAREaCAMPER have seen a surge of interest from those renting caravans and motorhomes.”
The price of wine is dependent on several factors, including taxes, the lobbying of local producers, and the type of wine purchased, Dahlmann says. Understanding how this differs between countries is beneficial for both wine connoisseurs and anyone who considers wine to be an important part of their trip. To compile the index, the company found the average cost of red and white locally produced wines within each country, and then an average of the price of several widely available imported wines. To calculate the final number, it averaged the cost of both of these figures.
To create the ranking, SHAREaCAMPER began with a list of 20 of the top producing wine regions and then added other countries of significance. It sourced wine from numerous outlets within the country, including at least one winery and one national supermarket. Where no local wines were available, only the imported wine cost was taken into account to create the final ranking. Litres per annum figures were taken from reports by the Wine Institute and International Organisation of Vine and Wine using the most recent publicly available statistics.
