French wine and spirits exports reached a new record value of €17.2bn in 2022. According to La Fédération des Exportateurs de Vins & Spiritueux de France, however, inflation must be taken into account when assessing the growth of 10.8% compared to the previous year. The wine category in particular achieved €11.6bn (+10.2%) and 12.2m hl (-6.6%) in exports. This puts the category in second place in French exports, just behind aviation.

César Giron, President of the FEVS, said: "This positive result in 2022 shows the resilience of the sector in a particularly complex environment. Despite the difficult geopolitical context and inflation, French wine and spirits companies were able to adapt." Giron adds, "Moreover, businesses had to contend with the impact of a low 2021 harvest."
 

Champagne remains France's export engine

Still wines from PDO regions represent the largest category in wine exports. They recorded a 6% increase in value to €5.6bn. However, the volume fell by 6% to 5.01m hl, which means that they account for 41% of the total export. As usual, champagne plays a special role. Even though it only accounts for about 11% of the total volume (+8.5% compared to the previous year), it is responsible for 36% of the export value (€4.21bn, +20%).

For PGI wines, €902m represents a slight minus of 0.3%. The volume also fell by 10.9%. Varietal wines without a PGI, the simplest category, lost 9.9% in volume. On the other hand, they achieved a significant increase of 8.6% in value with an export turnover of €264m.