2016 Wine Index Shows Countries With Most And Least Affordable Vino

Not only is it hot in the United Arab Emirates, but the the cost of buying a bottle of wine there is the highest amongst 65 countries in the just released Wine Price Index.

Where Is The Least Expensive Bottle of Wine?

The 2016 Wine Price Index, a comprehensive study comparing the cost of wine in 65 countries worldwide, has just been released. The study was commissioned by peer-to-peer motorhome rental platform SHAREaCAMPER. I hadn’t heard of SHAREaCAMPER before, but the sharing economy sure seems to be working for Airbnb, so why not?

We continue to search for the wine best value out there. While visiting Spain and South Africa, the prices were startling good. They are on the list of good values, but the Wine Price Index has countries that do a lot better. SHAREaCAMPER points out that wine travel is becoming one of the biggest travel trends of 2016 and so this information can help travelers choose wine travel destinations that suit their budget.

The Index averages and compares local and imported wine prices in each country, allowing travellers and wine lovers a bird’s eye view on the consumer wine industry across the globe. The United Arab Emirates was the most expensive destination for average wine costs, while Paraguay offered the least expensive wine options.

The US ranked in position 35 with an average cost of $15.23 for a 750ml bottle of wine, factoring in both local and imported wines. This compares to Paraguay, which offered the least expensive wine at an average price of $7.55 per bottle, whilst at the other end of the ranking United Arab Emirates calculated at a cost over five times higher, at $39.02 per 750ml bottle. US citizens consume an average 11.40 litres (just over three gallons) of wine per capita annually, ranking 33rd in the world for litres consumed.

The study revealed the 10 most affordable countries to buy wine are:

	Country	Average Local	Average Imported	Overall Average	Consumption (liters per capita annually)
1	Paraguay	$5.87	$9.24	$7.55	6.40
2	Serbia	$8.12	$8.65	$8.38	28.80
3	Czech Republic	$6.56	$10.32	$8.44	7.40
4	Argentina	$9.53	$8.21	$8.87	32.30
5	Panama	/	$9.27	$9.27	1.45
6	Malta	$10.73	$8.59	$9.66	17.70
7	Turkey	$8.57	$11.31	$9.94	1.00
8	Bulgaria	$9.64	$11.98	$10.81	13.70
9	Nepal	$5.19	$16.56	$10.87	0.02
10	New Zealand	$9.81	$12.21	$11.01	25.80

Full results of the research can be found on the SHAREaCAMPER website here. You’ll get to see the ratings for Germany, Spain, France and other countries.

 

The Biggest Guzzlers? Luxembourg

Further findings from the ranking include:

• The top five most expensive countries to buy wine overall were the United Arab Emirates at $39.02 a bottle, Singapore at $38.54, Maldives at $35.88, Israel at $30.22 and South Korea costing $29.20.
• The country with the most affordable local wine is Nepal costing an average of $5.19 a bottle, whilst the most expensive was Venezuela, at an average of $25.94 a bottle.
• The country with the most affordable imported wine is South Africa costing $6.08 a bottle, with the most expensive being Israel with a bottle costing $45.32 on average.
• The country that consumes the most per capita annually was Luxembourg at 61.30, followed closely by Portugal at 55.40, and France at 53.60 liters.

“Wine tourism connects travelers with local culture and is consistently a great source of wonderful memories.” said Florian Dahlmann, CEO of SHAREaCAMPER. “It may be the romantic or the relaxing aspects of the drink, but we see a consistent and growing number of our travelers picking wineries as a premier destination.”

To create the ranking, SHAREaCAMPER began with a list of 20 of the top producing wine regions and then added other countries of significance. They then averaged the cost of several bottles of locally produced white wine and several bottles of locally produced red wine from numerous outlets within the country, including at least one winery and one national supermarket. The cost of up to 10 imported wines largely available across the globe was then averaged, sourcing these costs from national supermarkets, restaurants and hotels. Where no local wines were available, only the imported wine cost was taken into account to create the final ranking. LitersLitres per annum figures were taken from reports by the Wine Institute and International Organization of Vine and Wine using the most recent publicly available statistics. All prices were calculated by standardizing the sizes of wines to a 750ml bottle, and with monetary transactions true to exchange rates on October 4th 2016.