Tag Archives: Internet wine

Winebits 695: Wine consumption, legal weed, wine prices

wine consumption
Let’s celebrate — we’re getting drunk while drinking less!

This week’s wine news: World wine consumption declined for the third year in a row, plus legal weed is a hit in Illinois and Internet wine prices

• Just go pass out already: World wine consumption sank to its lowest level in almost 20 years, falling 2.8 percent, according to a study from OIV, the International Organisation of Vine and Wine. In the U.S., total wine consumption was unchanged. Yes, yes, I know – we’re all passing out drunk from boozing it up during the pandemic, according about a million medical studies conducted over the past year. So, somehow, we did that while drinking less wine. Pretty impressive, yes? The report, released annually, was about as depressing as it gets for the wine business – not only was consumption down, but wine production was up, and the average price of wines exported worldwide dropped. Tariffs were much of the reason for all three – the U.S. levy on European wines in particular.

• Who needs booze? Illinois took in more tax dollars from marijuana than alcohol for the first time ever, according to the state’s revenue department. From January to March of this year, Illinois generated $86.5 million in adult-use marijuana tax revenue, compared to $72.2 million from liquor sales. This is not exactly an apples to apples comparison – higher taxes for legal weed, for example – but that doesn’t mean it’s not significant and ironic. Alcohol’s three-tier system exists because Al Capone – yes, that Al Capone – controlled production, distribution, and retailing in Chicago during Prohibition.

• Lower prices: E-commerce was a savior for the wine business during the pandemic, except when it wasn’t. A study from Sovos ShipCompliant, a consultancy for legal alcohol shipping, says direct-to-consumer volume from wineries was up more than 25 percent – but prices for that wine dropped significantly. There was a 9.5 percent drop in average bottle price while shipments of wine costing less than $30 increased more than 40 percent. In other words, as more of us bought from wineries over the past 12 months, we bought less expensive wines – a dynamic that stands conventional wine industry wisdom and premiumization on its head.

Photo: Cottonbro, via Pexels

Winebits 681: Ed O’Keefe, Internet wine, pandemic wine

ed o'keefeThis week’s wine news: Drink Local pioneer Ed O’Keefe has died, plus a study says consumers may be wary of Internet wine and a French producer addresses the pandemic

• Ed O’Keefe has died: Ed O’Keefe Jr., who started Michigan’s Chateau Grand Traverse winery in 1976, has died, aged 89. I was lucky enough to interview O’Keefe several times over the years, and he was featured in a 1995 American Way story about U.S. wineries that weren’t in California. It was my first piece ever about regional wine. The story in the link, from the Detroit Free Press, tells O’Keefe’s story, but what impressed me was that he always ignored everyone who said regional wine didn’t matter. And he was right.

• Internet wine: Some of us may want to buy wine over the Internet, but a surprising number of aren’t interested. That’s the result of a study by the Wine Intelligence consultancy, which found that only 58 percent of “regular” U.S. wine drinkers would buy wine on-line. The number, given all the time and effort so many of us have made to make Internet wine possible, reminds us how traditional – and resistant to change – that wine drinkers are in this country.

• Call it “Vaccs’vin:” A French producer has released a wine called Vaccs’vin– perfect for the pandemic, since its goal is “just to make people laugh” – and it’s sold without a prescription. Sadly, the wine, made with merlot, won’t be available in the U.S. We could use some giggles these days, yes?

Winebits 622: Supermarket wine, ingredient labels, Kroger wine

supermarket WineThis week’s wine news: Sommeliers pick supermarket wine, plus another shout out for wine ingredient labels and Kroger expands its on-line wine business

• Interesting choices: Vinepair asked sommeliers to pick quality supermarket wine, and what struck me as how un-supermarket so many of the wines were. How many of us go to the grocers to spend $60 for a bottle of Jordan cabernent sauvignon? And you can tell many of the sommeleirs had not bought wine at a grocery store lately, given the number of hard to find European wines they selected. Still, it was good to see Dallas’ Barbara Werley select Chateau Ste. Michelle and Houston’s Jay Pyle pick the Matua sauvignon blanc, a top $10 wine.

• Thank you: Mike Veseth, The Wine Economist, says “I believe that wine, beer, and spirits will eventually be required to list their ingredients and nutritional data. I wonder what would happen if wine were to take a voluntary step and be more transparent now as a way to shape the narrative?” Which is good news for those of us who have fought long and hard for ingredient and nutritional labels and to convince to join the 21st century. Veseth’s reasoning is well taken: “We might think wine is special — and it is in many ways — but we shouldn’t assume that it is immune to the forces that are making transparency, accountability, and technology more important every day.”

• Good luck: Kroger has expanded its on-line wine store to 19 states and Washington, D.C, offering – get this – some four dozen wines “selected by winemakers and sommeliers for their quality, value and flavor profiles.” I wonder: Is it a coincidence that one of the wines is the Matua sauvignon blanc? You can check out the store at this link – just click on one of the states listed in the menu. Selection is limited, and most of the wines aren’t well known. But it is intriguing that Kroger is trying something that mighty Amazon gave up on long ago.