French sales of organic wines were resilient in 2022

lthough organic vineyard acreage conversions in France plummeted by 48%, the chairman of SudVinBio, Nicolas Richarme, was quick to point out that “sales figures managed to stay on course”. Despite inflation, sales figures for organic wines reached 1.2 billion euros in France in 2022, making them the only organic product to post an increase in sales (+2% in 2022).

“We are obviously a long way off the 20% increases we were able to post as recently as five years ago, but they were off smaller bases and considering the current decline for all organic industries and inflation, organic wine is holding up well!” claims Richarme. According to Agence Bio, the national organic agency, organic products accounted for 6% of the French shopping basket in 2022.

The robustness of the market for organic wines in France is primarily due to the share of direct-to-consumer sales by producers, representing 47% of overall sales. “Supermarkets and specialist retailers saw their sales drop by 7% each in 2022, whilst direct-to-consumer sales increased by 5%, rising to 8% in wine merchants and 12% in on-premise outlets”. The chairman of SudVinBio views the trends as further evidence of the need for education that must support the organic wine proposition. “Sales of organic wines need explanations and education so that consumers can be informed of the value and extra production constraints that go with our wines”.

As greater volumes of organic wine from the 2022 vintage come on-stream, Richarme feels that firmness in the French organic market is a positive sign, though the “newly available volumes are designed to conquer export markets where canvassing work will only start bearing fruit after some time”.