In this article, we are going to discuss the best wine brand in the world. If you’re also curious about other brands offering first-class grape, here are the 20 Best Wine Brands in the World.

Global Wine Market:

Wine is one of the Most Consumed Alcohols in the World. As we mentioned in our article – 15 Best Wine Producing Regions in the World – the global wine market size was valued at $441.6 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach a value of $698.54 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 5.9% over the forecast period.

Wine is gaining huge popularity among millennials and youngsters, owing to its refreshing appeal and low ABV offerings. The rising demand for premium and luxury wines, increasing consumer awareness about the health benefits of wine, and the growing popularity of wine tourism are some of the key factors driving the growth of the wine market.

The United States was the world leader in the wine market in 2022 in terms of revenue, with $52.7 billion. Here are the U.S. States that Drink the Most Wine.

Trends of Global Wine Consumption:

The global wine consumption in 2023 was estimated to be 221 million hectoliters, marking a decrease of 2.6% compared to the previous year. Since 2018, wine consumption around the world has decreased at a regular rate and 2023 marked the lowest volume recorded since 1996. This negative trend can be mainly attributed to the decline in China’s consumption, which has lost an average of 2 million hectoliters per year since 2018. It was further accentuated in 2020 by the Covid-19 pandemic, which negatively affected many large wine markets.

In 2022, the war in Ukraine and the associated energy crisis, together with the global supply chain disruptions, led to a spike in costs in production and distribution. This has resulted in significant increases in wine prices for consumers.

Recent Acquisition in the Wine Industry:

It was reported in May that Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE:STZ), one of the Largest Publicly Traded Liquor Companies in the US, announced the purchase of California winery, Sea Smoke, to ‘further enhance the company’s higher-end wine focus and portfolio growth strategy with one of the preeminent Pinot Noir producers in the world’.

Sea Smoke joins Constellation’s Fine Wine & Craft Spirits portfolio, which includes Schrader Cellars, Robert Mondavi, The Prisoner Wine Company, and Lingua Franca, among several others. Sam Glaetzer, Constellation Brands’ EVP & President, Wine & Spirits division, announced:

“As we continue to pursue growth aligned with consumer-led premiumization trends through our higher-end brands of the Wine and Spirits business, we are excited to add Sea Smoke to our fine wine portfolio. Not only does Sea Smoke offer a uniquely acclaimed estate vineyard in the Santa Rita Hills AVA, its highly acclaimed wines also align with our target consumer preferences as they continue to shift to the higher end. We look forward to working with the Sea Smoke team to grow this exceptional winery while upholding its impeccable tradition of quality and customer experience.”

Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE:STZ) continues to be the Best Alcohol Stock to Buy Now, with 47 hedge fund holders in Q1 2024 boasting an overall stake value of over $2.74 billion. The New York-based company is involved in the production, import, marketing, and sale of beer, wine, and spirits across the United States, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, and Italy. The company made headlines last summer when its Mexican beer brand, Modelo Especial, became the Top-Selling Beer in America after dethroning Bud Light. As a result, STZ reported a revenue of over $2.12 billion during its last quarter of fiscal year 2024, a significant increase of 22.7% compared to the previous year. Net income also went up by 11.7% to reach $105 million.

The U.S. beer industry saw a tough start to the year, given the poor weather conditions in the states. However, STZ’s beer segment, which brought in 82% of its sales in FY 2024, still reported growth of 10.9% during the last quarter. The volume demand continues to grow and the company management stating that Q1 2025 is ‘setting us off on a really solid year’ suggests that they are seeing no major signs of slowdown. And while STZ’s Wine & Spirits segment witnessed a 5.6% decline in Q4, its smaller size minimizes the downside risk. For fiscal year 2024, Constellation Brands generated $2.8 billion in operating cash flow and was able to reduce its net leverage ratio by nearly half a point while returning over $900 million back to its shareholders through quarterly dividends and share repurchases. And although its forward dividend yield doesn’t seem high at 1.51%, the company has both paid and grown its dividends for the last eight years.

Another factor helping Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE:STZ) is that America’s Hispanic population is growing almost twice as fast as its general population, so brands like Modelo and Corona are expected to stay in high demand.

Methodology:

To collect data for this article, we have referred to sources such as VinePair, Tasting Table, Wine International Association, and Reddit etc., looking for the Top Wine Brands in the World. To make sure we give you only the best, we picked brands that appeared multiple times in the aforementioned sources, assigned them a score of 1 each time they were recommended on these websites, and then summed up the scores and ranked our list accordingly. When two or more wine brands had the same score, we ranked them by the number of upvotes they received on Reddit.

1. Domaine de la Romanée-Conti

Insider Monkey Score: 14

The most prestigious name in Burgundian wine, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti dates back to 1232 and is known for producing some of the most sought-after wines in the world, from the elegant Echézeaux to the fabled La Romanée-Conti. Its offerings also make for excellent investments, as according to RareWine Invest, a 2001 bottle of DRC has appreciated by more than 1,255% since 2004, emphasizing the brand’s long-term potential. In fact, a 1945 vintage of Romanée-Conti also holds the honor of being the Most Expensive Wine in the World, having been sold for an eye-watering amount of $558,000 at Sotheby’s in 2018.

If you want to read more about other top-notch wine brands, here is our list of the 20 Best Wine Brands in the World.

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This article is originally published on Insider Monkey.

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