Wine sales - which country leads?

[Blue]

"Italy is catching up with France"

We're talking volume here, not quality. Even in France, 2/3 of wine grown is non-AOC. Italy and other countries make very fine wine, but VOLUME of wine produced is a very poor way to compare wine producing countries. In general to make good wine you need to restrict the yield from your grapes. By removing a portion of the grapes early you intensify the flavor in the remaining grapes.

BTW Italian wine for example is very famous in the Former Soviet Union as they have been flooded by a large quantity of poor quality italian wine ($1-2/bottle). I was served such a bottle in Kyrgyzstan last summer....ummm delicious :-)

On the other hand we have all had amazing Barollo and Chianti...

So the point is: just look for quality wines, from wherever they are from, who cares how much bad stuff that country produces....