European consumers are cited as the key driver in the growth of the organic wine industry, which is projected to rise 9 percent between 2017 and 2022.
While volumes of total still wine will remain flat, the organic wine category is predicted to buck the trend and reach 87.5 million cases by 2022, according to new figures released by the International Wine and Spirits Research group in the UK.
Of that figure, Europe accounts for a whopping 78 percent of the global organic wine market, and the Americas about 12 percent.
In Europe, wine is considered organic if the product is made from organic grapes and produced without the use of sorbic acid and desulphurization. The level of sulphites in organic wine must also be lower than their non-organic equivalents.
Before wines can be sold as organic in the US, both the growing of grapes and their conversion to wine must be certified. That means that along with the grapes, yeast must also be certified organic and that sulfites, which are commonly added to preserve the flavor profile, are prohibited.
The report also provides a snapshot of consumption trends in select countries.
The world's largest market for organic wine is Germany, for example, where organic wines account for six percent of still wine consumption in the country. The biggest consumers are females over the age of 50 and high-income earners.
In the US, during the five-year period between 2017-2022, organic wines are expected to grow 14 percent, mostly among female, Millennial, and higher-income consumer brackets.
Likewise, organic wine consumption is predicted to grow 13 percent in France, driven largely by consumers in Paris.
And in Japan, organic wine is imported mostly from France and represents 10 percent of total still wines, with red wines dominating the sector (85 percent).
