Tag Archives: low alcohol

Winebits 683: Direct shipping, low alcohol, Brexit

direct shippingThis week’s wine news:  We’re buying less expensive wine via direct shipping, plus the demand for low alcohol wine and Brexit wine woes

• Prices drop: The pandemic, which has boosted sales for wine on-line and via direct shipping from wineries, has also cut the average price of wine bought the latter way. Ship Compliant, a winery shipping consultancy, reports that the average price of a bottle of wine bought directly from the winery dropped 9 1/2 percent in 2020. That’s the first decrease in at least a decade. Meanwhile, the dollar value of all shipments increased 14 1/2 percent last year. I wonder: will anyone in the wine business pay attention? Lower wine prices translates to more sales. The average DTC price remains high, about $37 a bottle, but that’s mostly because direct to consumer wines are more expensive to begin with.

• Lower alcohol: One leading wine analyst says the way to boost U.S. wine sales is though lower-alcohol products, like wine spritzers and wine with some alcohol removed. Martin Pasco writes that “Brands should offer lower alcohol wines, i.e. 5-9% [alcohol], to trigger permission to indulge for U.S. Millennials.” This is part of a larger trend in the U.S. wine business, which we’ve noted before on the blog. This could be the first time, though, that I’ve seen the low alcohol trend used to target younger wine drinkers.

• Brexit booze woes: Just when you think the U..S. alcohol laws are the goofiest in the world, someone goes and shows we’re not alone. Amazon had to stop selling some beer, wine, and spirits from its Northern Ireland web site because of the mess surrounding Britain’s departure from the European Union. Reuters reports that new custom rules may make selling alcohol too complicated and too expensive for the on-line retailer to deal with, including double taxation.

Photo: “White Wine Drinking Evening With Girls” by wuestenigel is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Ask the WC 20: White Bordeaux, crossing state lines, lower alcohol

white bordeauxThis edition of Ask the WC: Where to find affordable white Bordeaux, plus crossing state lines with illegal wine, and the lower alcohol trend

Because the customers always have questions, and the Wine Curmudgeon has answers in this irregular feature. You can Ask the Wine Curmudgeon a wine-related question by clicking here.

Hi, Wine Curmudgeon:
Can you help me find an affordable white Bordeaux? Recently had a $36 bottle of the white blend that was heavenly but out of my daily price range.
Looking for value

Dear Value:
Premiumization strikes again. Fortunately, there is still plenty of quality, cheap white Bordeaux — the white wine, often a blend of sauvingon blanc and semillion, from the Bordeaux region of France. Chateau Bonnet, which is one of the great cheap wines of all time, is mostly available nationally and should be less than $15. Whole Foods’ Château La Gravière Blanc was the 2019 cheap wine of the year. And you can always use the search box on the upper right hand side of the blog — type in white Bordeaux.

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Dear Wine Curmudgeon:
I’ve heard that it’s illegal to buy wine in one state and then bring it back into your state. Is that true, or just another urban myth?
Bootlegging wine

Dear Bootlegging:
Yes, it may be illegal, depending on the state where you buy the wine and the state that is its final destination. Because, of course, three-tier. It would require an attorney and a couple of thousands dollars worth of consultation to be more specific about the various states and their penalties. But know that if you’re driving with wine purchased in another state, and you’re stopped for speeding in your state, there’s a chance that your wine can be confiscated and you can be fined.

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Hello WC:
I heard a story on NPR that young people aren’t drinking as much as we used to drink. That can’t be true, can it? Young people always drink, don’t they? Isn’t that part of being young?
Aging Baby Boomer

Dear Aging:
Here’s how much of a trend people in the booze business think this is: I wrote two stories this summer, for different trade magazines, about young people drinking less alcohol. So, yes, there seems to be something to the idea that the youngest Gen Xers, the Millennials, and the oldest Gen Zs aren’t as enamored of getting drunk as the Baby Boomers were at that age. The experts I talked to cited any number of reasons, but one struck me. When I was 19, it was a rite of passage to drive drunk. Today, we have designated drivers. Hence, a significant culture change.

Photo: “Day 55 Hatch wine in Parksville” by terri_bateman is licensed under CC CC0 1.0 

More Ask the Wine Curmudgeon:
• Ask the WC 19: Supermarket wine, plastic wine bottls, corked wine
• Ask the WC 18: Sweet red wine, varietal character, wine fraud
• Ask the WC 17: Restaurant-only wines, local wine, rose prices