The U.S. is already the world’s first wine consumer and holds also the first position as biggest importer. During 2013, the Americans consumed 29.1 million hectolitres of wine, surpassing countries such as France (28.1 million hectolitres), Italy (20.3 million hectolitres) or Germany (20.3 million hectolitres). As an importer, the U.S. bought 3,946 million euro worth of wine, according to data from the International Organization of Vine and Wine.

The U.S. market has become the most desired among the producing countries and our country is no exception. In 2013 our wines held the sixth place in the ranking list of imports in the U.S.: Italy, Australia, Chile, France and Argentina, in this order, occupied the positions above Spain in the list of countries exporting wine to the U.S.

‘The wine market in the U.S’, a report prepared by ICEX (Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade) and published in November 2013 points out that the consumption of imported wine represents 23.5% of the total consumption in the U.S, with particular importance in New York City, where that percentage gets closer to 40%. Dehesa del Carrizal commercialises its wines through the importer The Spanish Acquisition, precisely located in New York.

According to data from ICEX, in 2012 the Spanish wine exports to the U.S. reached a total of 9.3 million boxes. Red wine was the most exported category, with 3.2 million boxes. ICEX considers that the most advisable option for the Spanish exporter is to aim at the sectors of wines with prices above $7. Among the professionals of the sector in the U.S., Spanish wines are regarded as quality wines, although the U.S. average consumer still considers French, Italian and Californian wines of a higher quality than the Spanish. Therefore, one of the challenges for the coming years will be persuading the average American consumer that Spanish wine can compete in quality with its French, Italian or Californian analogues.