Not a vintage year for wine sales

Statistically speaking, the fiscal year 2022/2023 was not “a vintage year” in terms of the volume of wine sold nor its share of the alcoholic beverage market. However, sparkling wine was the toast of the grape in 2022/2023, according to the statistical sommelier of sales, while red wine was in the red.

Uncorking wine data

Wine sales by volume decreased for the second straight year, falling 3.0% to 500 million litres in 2022/2023, which is equivalent to 2.2 standard glasses of wine per week per person of legal drinking age.

Nevertheless, wine sales rose 0.6% to $7.9 billion, due to the 7.4% year-over-year price increase in wine purchased from stores from March 2022 to March 2023.

Wine was the only beverage category that lost market share in 2022/2023, falling from 30.6% to 29.9% of total sales in Canada, its lowest level since 2010/2011.

Red wine sales in the red

Red wine sales were down 2.5% from a year earlier to just under $4.0 billion in 2022/2023.

Red wine sales were 7.2% below the record high of $4.3 billion set during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Almost three of every four dollars (74.3%) of red wine sold in Canada in 2022/2023 were from imported wines.

White wine shines

White wine sales rose 3.8% to a record high $2.7 billion in 2022/2023, with just over three-fifths of the white wine sold nationally being imported.

However, domestic white wine accounted for just under three-fifths (58.9%) of all white wine sold in British Columbia.

Sparkling wine sales positively effusive

Sparkling wine sales rose at the fastest pace among the grapes in 2022/2023, up 5.9% from a year earlier to $630.1 million.

Sales were just over one-quarter (+25.5%) higher compared with prior to the pandemic in 2019/2020.

Rosé wine sales less rosy

Rosé wine sales fell 2.7% from the record high set a year earlier to $309.2 million in 2022/2023.

However, Canadian rosé wine producers sold a record high $88.1 million in 2022/2023, up 0.1% from a year earlier and 47.6% more than five years earlier.

Nova Scotians and New Brunswickers most likely to drink Canadian wine

In 2022/2023, imported wine sales topped domestic sales in every province and territory, except Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

In Nova Scotia, domestic wine sales totalled $95.8 million, accounting for 58.3% of total wine sales in the province. In New Brunswick, domestic sales reached $63.6 million, accounting for 56.1% of total wine sales.

In Canada’s major wine-growing provinces, domestically produced wine accounted for almost half of all wine sales in British Columbia (47.2%) and less than one-third in Ontario (32.5%).

Wine remains the alcoholic beverage of choice in Quebec, accounting for 42.6% of total alcohol sales in the province in 2022/2023. Four out of every five dollars of wine sold in Quebec (81.6%) were from imported wines.