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A 2018 study produced by Nielsen for the Professionals du Liège confirmed that cork-sealed wines dominate the French wine market in terms of value and volume and bring clear added value to wines, especially in the “Premium” and “Super Premium” segments, when compared to artificial closures.

The study concentrated on the top-selling wines in the “Premium” and “Super Premium” segments in French hypermarkets and supermarkets, with average retail prices between €5 and €15.

Data was compiled for the period between March 2017 and March 2018.
The key findings included the following:

• Cork-sealed wines occupied 86.3% and 84.4% of sales, in value and volume terms respectively, with a 98.5% share for red wines.
• Cork-sealed wines commanded a price premium of €1.87 in these two segments, compared to wines sealed with artificial closures.
• All wines priced above €8 were sealed with cork.

French retail chains are increasingly insistent on stocking cork-sealed wines, due to quality and environmental considerations.

A recent example is the declaration by France’s leading retail chain, the Auchan group, that it aims to ensure that over the medium term all wines bearing its distribution label will be cork-sealed (see next article).