This week’s wine news: Wine prices average hits $10, plus silly a name for British bubbly and more three-tier foolishness
• The $10 mark: Chalk it up to premiumization, as the average price of a bottle of wine in the U.S. now costs $10. That’s from Nielsen’s Danny Brager, who knows more about this stuff than almost anyone else in the world. Interestingly, that doesn’t mean the price of wine is increasing, says Brager, and it remains difficult to raise prices for wines costing less than $20. Rather, he says, more wine is being sold at the higher end of the bell curve, and less wine is being sold at the lower end – hence, the increase in the average price. Meanwhile, the situation continues to worsen for restaurant wine, according to Nielsen figures: Sales fell one percent last year, and even decreased by 0.2 percent in dollars. Those are recession-like numbers, even though the recession ended quite a while ago.
• No names, please: Apparently, U.S. marketers aren’t the only ones who have trouble being clever about wine. The goal was to come up with a term that can hold its own in the marketplace with the French Champagne, the Italian Prosecco, and the Spanish cava. But the top idea, British Fizz, has as little sparkle as the pun I just wrote. The name is so bad, in fact, that the Duchess of Cornwall told a British sparkling wine group: “I just feel Champagne is such a good name and we don’t want to let the French beat us with a better name, so I think everybody ought to get back to having another little think about it.”
• Send in the lawyers: Some states, including Missouri, oversee alcohol advertising as part of the three-tier system that regulates liquor sales in the U.S. One Missouri law forbids booze ads to mention prices, rebates, or discounts, but does allow advertising for happy hours. That contradiction resulted in a lawsuit, which has been wending its way through the federal courts since 2013. The plaintiffs, including a Missouri winery, won this month on appeal, and the state may have to change the way it regulates alcohol advertising. And, as always, don’t worry if none of this makes sense to you. It’s all part of the joy of the three-tier system.