Greek consumers seem to have a particular preference for French and Italian wines, as the largest quantity of wine we import comes from these two countries, according to KEOSOE (Central Union of Vine & Wine Producing Coop. Organisations of Greece).
In other words, 78.08% of total imported wine derives from France and Italy, which is 81.12% of the value of Greece’s imports in this category. “Premium products” are imported from France, while Italy mainly accounts for bulk and must.
French wines accounted for 41.37% of all of Greece’s imports, 91.24% of which relates to Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) wines (2017: 89.22%), with the average price reaching 15.84 euros per kilo (2017: 15.82 euros per kilo).
Also, according to KEOSOE, the bulk of the imported PDO wines relates to sparkling wines, in particular, Champagne, and premium PDO wines of the major ‘terroir’ in France such as Bordeaux, Bourgogne, and others.
As far as the other categories are concerned, wines with Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) are imported at an average price of EUR 3.50 per kilo (2017: EUR 3.95 per kilo), Variety wines with 9.68 (2017: € 6.55 per kilo) and table wines at € 3.63 per kilo.
PDO beverages account for the largest Italian exports to Greece as they represent 58.84% (2017: 57.64%), with their average price standing at 2.03 euros kilo (2017: € 2.13 per kilo).
A significant increase was observed in 2018 compared to 2017 in the import of must from Italy, as it accounts for 15.12% of imports from this country (2017: 11.17%) in value, 37.48% of the quantity (2017: 30,59%) with an average import price of EUR 0,57 per kilo (2017: EUR 0,44 per kilo).
