China overtakes France to have world’s second biggest wine-growing area

China now has the second-largest wine-growing area in the world after Spain, pushing France into third place, according to figures released by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine. The figures for 2014 showed China had 799,000 hectares of land devoted to wine growing, compared with 1.02 million hectares for Spain. Australia was 12th on the list with 152,000 hectares. France remained the biggest producer of wine in the world, pumping out 47 million hectolitres last year, while Australia produced 12 million hectolitres and China 11 million.