Analysis of Wine Export Intensity by Spanish Autonomous Communities and Their Geographical Destinations

Abstract

Spain is in a privileged position in the production and marketing of wine, being the world leader in terms of volume of wine exported. It is also the country where exports have grown the most since 1990, as companies have been pushed to increase their foreign exposure by the decline in domestic consumption and more recently by the financial crisis. The present research contributes to the literature on the international wine trade, given that, to our knowledge, no previous research has so recently addressed the export intensity of Spanish wines by autonomous communities, as well as the geographical destinations of these exports. The results show a clear heterogeneity in value and volume between the different Spanish territories when it comes to marketing wine, revealing two competitive models in the Spanish wine industry: cost leadership (focused on volume) and differentiation (focused on quality).