Breaking down the Loire’s growth w/ Pierre-Jean Sauvion, InterLoire

In a wine market with declining consumption, the Loire stands out for its growth, growing 4% in volume and 5% in value in 2025. With its fresh, fruity, and friendly styles of wine, and mostly white wine, the Loire plays perfectly into the trends of the modern wine consumer. Being backed by Taylor Swift never hurts either. Pierre-Jean Sauvion, President of Communications for InterLoire, breaks down the growth metrics and why Loire is winning in today’s environment.

Detailed Show Notes:

Pierre-Jean’s background: 4th generation winemaker from Muscadet, studied in Ireland, UK, California

InterLoire overview

• Wine council for wineries (growers and merchants)
• ~2,200 people, 42k ha from Muscadet to Touraine, ~250M bottles/year sold to 170 countries
• Goal is to develop & promote areas and creates tools to do so

Loire performance (2024 to 2025)

• +4% volume, +5% value in a down market
• Export 21% today vs 19% French average, goal is to get to 30% by 2030
• French consume 95% French wine
• Growth from bubbles (+20%; Cremant de Loire biggest product, 4x Vouvray), red ~1-2% growth; driven by Germany and France, occasion use (aperitif and easy)
• Value growth driven by everything getting more expensive, bubbles (Cremant more expensive with hand harvesting and 12 mo aging requirements)
• Loire still good value for money, even with smaller appellations
• US #1 or 2 for Loire exports
• Other growth drivers: Chenin Blanc (wine geeks like it); light reds / “glou glou” style

3 F’s of the Loire: Fresh, Fruity, Friendly

Taylor Swift impact - builds on the Sauvignon Blanc trend with Loire as its benchmark; was not planned or intentional; showed a spike in consumption and then back to normal growth

Loire didn’t change anything about itself, but is playing into current consumer trends: white wine, fresh styles, lighter / lower alc wines

Experimenting with different packaging formats (bag in box, cans, etc…)

Not very producer driven, more region driven

Lower cost to start and build in Loire (~₠21k/ha, ranging from 6-85k)

Facing climate change issues (frost, flooding) and adapting (planting for different water patterns, more canopy coverage, new grape varieties (e.g. - Floreal), different rootstocks

Wine needs to make the winemaker job attractive again to attract talent to the industry and make wine easy for consumers

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