Italian wine exports to the United States jumped 8.4% in volume and 8.7% in value in 2007 over the previous year, according to the Italian Wine and Food Institute (IWFI).
Last year Italy exported a total of 2,293,170 hectoliters of wine to the US for a value of $1.03 billion, the IWFI said.
Exports to the US of unbottled Italian wine also rose and amounted to 93,500 hectoliters, equal to 4.1% of total exports.
IWFI Chairman Lucio Caputo recalled that when he began to promote Italian wines in 1975, Italy exported only 360,000 hectoliters to the US for a value of less than $40 million.
Italy is now the leading exporter of wine to the US in terms of both volume and value with 32.4% of the American market in terms of volume and 30.7% in value.
Second-placed Australia last year saw a 6.6 decline in the volume of its exports to the US while value inched up 0.7%.
According to Caputo, the fact that Italy increased its lead over Australia ''is even more significant when one considers the fact that Italy, as opposed to Australia, was penalised by the euro rising on the dollar which made Italian wines less competitive''.
France remains the third largest wine exporter to the US but the volume of its exports is less than half that of Italy.
French wine exports to the US in 2007 rose 7% for volume and 13.6% for value.
Fourth-placed Chile saw its wine exports to the US rise 8.7% for volume and 15.5% in value while the biggest gains in 2007 were made by Argentina with a 67.7% leap in the volume of exports and a 41.4% gain in value.
