Can Brazilian wine conquer foreign markets?

Take a tourist to a Brazilian bar and he’ll almost certainly order one of our worldwide famous caipirinhas. But the list of high-quality Brazilian alcoholic beverages is by no means limited to the delicious mix of Cachaça, sugar, and lime. Brazil has another treasure that is being discovered little by little: domestic wines. While the country still lags behind Argentina and Chile, the Brazilian wine industry is beefing up and aiming at international markets.

The history of the Brazilian wine industry is deeply rooted in the 19th-century European immigration process—despite some early trials during the Colonial Period. Rio Grande do Sul—the state that concentrates 62.5 percent of Brazil’s vineyards—was also one of the epicenters of Italian immigration, with the wine culture that came along with it. Now, their heirs have become the country’s most important winemakers, such as leading brands Miolo, Salton, and Casa Valduga.

But even though Brazilian winemaking has a long family-based tradition, the industry boom is somewhat recent. International brands began exploring the local market in the 1970s, but it wasn’t until the 1990s that it properly flourished. Back then, Brazil started a process of opening up its economy and Brazilians were able to buy foreign products more easily. The competition with foreign wines made local brands invest more to keep up with their rivals.

As a result of this process, Brazilian wine consumption has risen sharply. An increasing global trend in countries that aren’t typically wine drinkers, such as China, is also helping to foster domestic interest. However, Brazilian consumption is still below benchmark markets such as France or Argentina.

According to projections seen on the 2018 Statistical Report on World Vitiviniculture from the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV), Brazilians drank 3.3 million hectoliters of wine in 2017, against 8.9 million...