News - 02.11.09
Argentina posted the most growth in the US market
The wine category had a solid September with several shining lights. French imports had one of the best months in a long time and wines priced $20 and above posted strong growth, second only to box wines. Domestics are still outpacing imports with especially solid results coming from California, but Argentina continues to break the mold each month.
The wine category had a solid September with several shining lights. French imports had one of the best months in a long time and wines priced $20 and above posted strong growth, second only to box wines. Domestics are still outpacing imports with especially solid results coming from California, but Argentina continues to break the mold each month.
Most wine consumers in America were drinking domestic white wine in September, which includes Labor Day (Sept 7), according to IRI scan data from the four weeks to October 4. Growth of domestic wine far outpaced imports once again, particularly in dollar sales where domestics grew 4.6% and imports grew only 0.1%. Imports lost almost 1 dollar share point in September. Overall, domestic table wine producers took a price increase of 1.8% per 750ml bottle of wine. Imports took only a 0.2% price increase. We assume this is partly why domestics (2.8%) and imports (-0.1%) are a little closer in volume.
WHITE WINE OUTPACES RED. Not surprisingly given the time of year, white table wines grew far beyond reds in dollar sales although volume was much closer. Dollar sales of white wines were up 5.2% and reds were up 2.9%, but volumes of white wines grew 3.9% and red wines rose 3%.
PINOT TAKES LARGEST PRICE CUT. In terms of varietals, the biggest price decrease came from pinot noir, which dropped prices -3.8% per 750ml bottle of wine to $9.37. Not long ago pinot noir dominated growth and price but September saw a shift. Merlot also took a dip, with price down -2.9% to $5.71 a bottle. Fume/sauvignon blanc, red blends/meritage and white zinfandel were the only three that raised prices. Fume/sauvignon blanc and red blends/meritage led in both dollar and volume growth. Syrah and white zinfandel saw the largest decline in growth.
CALIFORNIA LEADS IN DOMESTICS. California table wines performed better than Oregon and Washington wines because they managed to post the largest increase in dollar sales and volume growth while taking price up 1.9% per bottle of wine. Dollar sales of Oregon wines rose only 0.6% and volume grew 6.1% likely due to price cuts of 5.2%. Washington producers cut prices 0.9%.
ARGENTINA WINS, FRANCE SEES MAJOR IMPROVEMENT. Once again Argentina posted the most growth by far, with sales up 55.2% and volume up 45%. Spain came in a distant second with dollar sales up 18.2% and volume up 21.6%. New Zealand came in third with sales up 13.6% and volume up 13%. The Argentineans raised prices a whopping 7% to an average $8.43 a bottle, while Spain dropped prices -2.8% and NZ increased prices by just 0.5%.
France managed to improve its numbers in September with sales up 1.7% and volume up 2.2%. Prices were down only -0.5% to an average $9.57 a bottle. Italy and Australia are still in the red with Italy taking the biggest dip. Sales of Italian table wine fell -4.6% and volume declined -5.3% with pricing up 0.8%. Australians, meanwhile, saw dollar sales fall -3.7% and volume down -0.9%. After Oregon, Australia took the biggest price decrease, down -2.8% to $6.39.
BOXED WINE AND SUPER-PREMIUMS GAIN. The price categories that Americans flocked to in September were all over the board. Boxed wine priced $2 and over saw the most growth, but table wines in the $20 and up category weren't far behind. This is great news since many producers felt that category was dead. Other price groups that stood out include: $3-$5, $8-$11 and $11-$15.
Source: www.winespiritsdaily.com