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Home > Blogs > Uncorked > Archives > 2007 > March > 19 > Entry
Riesling’s in, white zin is out; New Zealand’s hot, and Chile’s, well, chilly.
More fun facts from the “Beverage Alcohol Annual Snapshot: A Review of 2006 — What’s Hot, and Not” produced by The Nielsen Company:
— Sangria was the fastest-growing category among wine sales in 2006, with sales jumping 10.9 percent compared with the previous year. Sales of table wines (chardonnay, cabernet, and other non-sparkling wines), which constitutes 86.3 percent of the entire wine category, rose a handsome 6.9 percent. Non-alcohol wines dropped 3 percent.
— When the folks at Nielsen looked at the sales figures of wines by their country of origin compared to the previous year, New Zealand was the biggest winner, with sales surging 38.4 percent in 2006. Other winners included South Africa, Argentina, Spain and Germany, with sales increases of 21 to 26 percent. But combined, all of the abovementioned countries still account for less than 4 percent of the market, while domestic wines account for more than 70 percent of the market, followed by Australia (10.2 percent of wine sales in the U.S.) and Italy, which has a 10 percent market share. The only country to record a sales drop was Chile, and that decline was less than 1 percent.
— Within that “domestic” category, California dominates, commanding a 64.9 percent total market share of all U.S. wine sales, and recording a 7.2 percent sales increase in 2006. Washington State, Texas and North Carolina experienced double-digit percentage sales increases compared to the previous year. Ohio was not listed separately in this particular report.
— The “hot” grape varieties in 2006 included Riesling (sales up 25.2 percent), pinot noir (up 20.3 percent), pinot grigio/gris (+17.9 percent), zinfandel (+11.6 percent) and cabernet sauvignon (+11.1 percent). The only grape variety to see a decline in sales? White Zin, down 0.7 percent. And chardonnay is still the dominant wine variety in America, accounting for nearly one out of every four bottle sold. Its sales rose 5.2 percent in 2006.
— Sales of rose table wine jumped 24 percent in 2006.
— Red wines sales appear to be benefitting from all of the positive health news that began to flood the airwaves in the fall of 2006. Over the first 16 weeks of 2007, red-wine sales accounted for 52.9 percent of all wine sales, compared to 51.6 percent over the same period in 2006, and up from 47 percent from 2003.
Any surprises here? Does this match your drinking trends? Or are we (ahem) ahead of the curve? For another take on the Nielsen numbers, check out our Wines & Vines friend Jim Gordon’s analysis of the numbers.
Cheers!
Mark Fisher
Comments
By Linda Outterson
March 21, 2007 8:02 AM | Link to this
Overall, our dry wine sales have increased dramatically. The reds are the most noticible increase, particulary the Cab - the merlot is sold out. The sweet (grape) wine sales are flat while the honeywine and dry meads are up. Chardonnay? - the customers aren’t even tasting it! The ports continue to surprise us - especially among the younger crowd. We thought our target market there would be the 40-somethings. Goes to show you can’t second guess the market. When you say Riesling, I assume you mean sweet. Our Riesling is dry, however, and has seen an increase also the past few weeks. Woodstone CreekBy Mark Fisher
March 20, 2007 12:02 PM | Link to this
Dennis: Yes, there were price breakdowns that showed wine consumers are definitely “trading up” — either that, or prices are rising. Sales of the least expensive wines are declining or flat, and sales of more expensive wines are surging. I’ll try to share some of the specific information in an upcoming entry.By Dennis
March 20, 2007 10:57 AM | Link to this
Any the study did it give any info about the average price per bottle or percentage of wines at different price points (i.e. under $7, over $20)?By Don "Woody" Woodward
March 19, 2007 12:00 PM | Link to this
Can’t disagree with much in the article. We discontinued the White Zinfandel 4 years ago. Too, Blushes and under the name “Blush” don’t sell well for us. You CAN bottle a blush colored wine and have it sell, just don’t use the name “Blush”. It’s marketing on wines that drive demand for what I always thought were “trendy” wines, like Blush and Rose’. We stopped using the name Rose’ on any of our wines even though we may have wines with a Rose’ color. So it surprises me that Rose’ sales are growing. Merlot has a name and it’s still a hot number, I think mainly because it’s a RED (good for your health) and it’s lighter in body and flavor for the emerging wine drinker. One of our biggest sellers here in the Lake Erie & Grand River growing regions is Riesling, and should be. It grows so darned well and can be considered in the class of other Rieslings throughout the colder climates of the world. Of course, Chardonnay and Cabs will always have a place in the consumers heart. Just realize that we shouldn’t be trying to grow great Cabernets in Northern Ohio. (Here is where Arnie from Markko in Conneaut is going to ferverently disagree). -Woody from Old Firehouse Winery, Geneva-on-the-Lake.