Gradual catch up and enduring leadership in the global wine industry

tThe wine industry is an extremely interesting sector from a catch -up point of view because the latecomersin the international market have changed how wine is produced, sold and consumed and, in doing so,they have challenged the positions of incumbents. Until the end of the 1980s, the European countries,and particularly France and Italy, dominated the international market for wine. Subsequently, significantchanges in the market, namely decreases in consumption by traditional consuming countries, the entry ofnew inexperienced consumers, and the increasing importance of large distribution have threatened thissupremacy. Initially, the USA and Australia and later emerging countries such as Chile and South Africa,gained increasing market shares in both exported volumes and value, at the expense of incumbents.However, some of these newcomers (e.g. Australia) have shown slower growth, opening opportunitiesfor newer entrants such as Argentina and New Zealand. At the same time, some of the incumbents(especially Italy) have innovated, challenging the leadership of France in key markets such as the USA. Inthis article we investigate the different catch-up cycles in the global wine sector that occurred betweenthe 1960s and 2010, through a detailed analysis of export volumes, values and unit prices. We addressissues related to the increasing share in the global market of latecomer countries and the relative declineof the incumbents, as well as possible changes in the market leadership within these two groups.