Tag Archives: wine consumption

It’s true — Americans don’t drink much wine

The World Health Organization, which tracks alcohol-related deaths, does an annual report detailing alcohol consumption. The results are always intriguing; the 2011 report noted that "one-in-five men in the Russian Federation and neighbouring countries die due to alcohol-related causes."

The Wine Curmudgeon mentions it here because it sheds a very bright light on something that has come up quite a bit on the blog over the past couple of years. To all of the hullabaloo about the U.S. and its status as an important wine drinking country, the WHO report says, "not really." Alcohol consumption rates in the U.S. lag most of the world, and wine consumption in the U.S. lags beer and spirits consumption. In addition, says the WHO report, countries in the Americas (which would be us), had relatively stable consumption levels.

This is not marketing-driven puff designed to make everyone in the wine business feel better about themselves. These are facts from WHO, an organization that could care less about scores and toasty and oaky. So the wine business can pat itself on the back as much as it wants (which it does), but the facts show the U.S. is not a wine drinking country and doesn't appear to be heading that way. And very few people, other than me, seem bothered by this.

Best yet, there's a map of world booze consumption, courtesy of The Economist magazine (and a tip o' the Curmudgeon's fedora to Lew Perdue at Wine Industry Insight, who ran the map last week).

image from media.economist.com

Six things you probably don’t know about wine

A couple of years ago, I wrote a post detailing some common misconceptions about wine — average price, how much Americans drink, and the like. For some reason, I never updated it, which I'm fixing now. Check out the left side panel, and you'll see this item: Six things you probably don't know about wine, with an overview of U.S. wine consumption in 2010. It will be there until I update it for 2011.

The post answers some important questions: the average price of a bottle wine (yes, it's less than $10); how many Americans drink (not enough); the most popular varietal sold in the U.S. (probably not what you think); how big wine companies are (very big); and whether we buy wine to save for later (again, probably not what you think).

A couple of thoughts about the post. The information surprises me, and I make my living stuyding these facts and figures, so don't be surprised at what you see. It's not as if this stuff is widely reported. Second, despite all the media hoopla over the past couple of years, we're still not a wine-drinking country. Hence my crusade to make wine as simple as possible, so that it's not easier to reach for Dr Pepper. Third, the wine business in the U.S., based on the average price of a bottle of wine, is one of the few businesses I've ever seen that seems geared toward ignoring its best customers.

Six things you probably don’t know about wine

There are so many misconceptions about wine in the United States — often perpetuated by the industry itself — that the Wine Curmudgeon sometimes wonders how we can enjoy wine at all. Let’s clear up six of the most common.

1. What’s the average price of a bottle of wine sold in the U.S.? $6.22, reports Nielsen, tracking sales from March 2010 to March 2011. In fact, one out of every four bottles of wine sold costs less than $3. That percentage has fallen by about half over the past 20 years, but we are still — overwhelmingly — a country that appreciates cheap wine. Nine out of 10 bottles of wine sold in the U.S. cost less than $12.

2. How many Americans drink wine? Not enough. About 40 percent of Americans say they don’t drink, a figure that has remained remarkably consistent for years. Meanwhile, 20 percent of Americans drink 91 percent of the wine sold in the U.S.

3. Where does the U.S. rank in per capita consumption of wine? 57th. Through 2009, Vatican City was first at 70 liters per person, which is about 8 cases. France, at 45 liters per person, is the leading major country. The U.S. is at 9 liters per person, about 12 bottles a year — a number that has not changed much since 1980. More of us enjoy wine, but most of us, despite the hype over the last couple of years, aren’t all that interested. Even though French consumption has fallen by a quarter over the past decade, the average Frenchman still drinks five times more wine than we do.

4. What’s the most popular wine in the U.S.? Chardonnay, by about 5 to 3, over cabernet sauvignon, says the same Nielsen study. One out of every five bottles of wine sold in the U.S. is chardonnay. However, this is marked changed from the last decade, when chardonnay outsold cabernet by as much as 2 to 1. Merlot is third, pinot grigio is fourth, and white zinfandel is fifth.

5. How long does the average American keep a bottle of wine? Not very long at all. As much as 90 percent of the wine bought in the U.S. is drunk within 24 hours, even though the Wine Magazines make it seem like buying wine to age is quite common. And, depending on the study, some 95 percent of all wine purchased in the U.S. is consumed within a week.

6. How important are the biggest wine companies? Hugely important. Fewer than two percent of U.S. wineries account for 84 percent of all wine production. Most wineries, whether in California or not, are small — about six in 10 make less than 4,200 cases a year. The company that owns Kendall-Jackson, on the other hand, makes more than 5 million cases a year. And it’s not even the biggest.

The photo is from Microstock Photography, via stock.xchng, using a Creative Commons license

Winebits 171: Jess Jackson, U.S. wine consumption, alcohol laws

? Has Jess Jackson retired? Apparently so, reports Forbes magazine. Jackson's wine empire, which includes Kendall-Jackson and more than a dozen other brands, is making do without its founder. The Press Democrat of Santa Rosa fills in the story: "Jackson, 81, the only resident of Sonoma County to make the Forbes list of billionaires, was missing from its latest roster … for the first time in a decade. Jackson's family informed Forbes in January that the self-made billionaire no longer owns a stake in Kendall-Jackson or its parent company, Jackson Family Wines, said Clare O'Connor, a reporter with Forbes." Jackson, said the paper, is reportedly battling cancer.

? U.S. drinks the most wine: We passed France as the world's most prodigious wine drinking country in 2010, says the Wine Institute. Americans downed almost 330 million cases of wine, up two percent from 2009. Impressive? Depends on how you look at it. The French, with 63 million people, drank about 321 million cases last year, so their per capita consumption is still about four times ours. On the other hand, considering that only about one-third of Americans say they drink wine regularly, those of us do drink wine are more even with the French — 3 1/2 cases per person for U.S. drinkers compared to 5 for the French.

? No coupons in Massachusetts: The Bay State's liquor cops say the state's bars and restaurants can't use popular Internet coupons like Groupon. They're in violation of the several state regulations, and the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission ios going to go after establishments that honored the coupons. The coupon process, says the ABCC, ?unlawfully transfers ? an interest in the restaurant ?s liquor license. For its part, Groupon was circumspect (instead of reaching for a lawsuit). Said a spokesman: "Since we are pioneering a new industry, issues arise within our space that we must evaluate in the best interest of our merchants and customers."

Winebits 152: Wine Trials, states and wineries, alcohol consumption

? Wine Trials 2011: This is the third edition of one the best guides to cheap wine ever done. Robin Goldstein and his colleagues, using blind tastings, have found 175 wines for $15 and less that are always well worth trying. I'll have a full review later this month; it's enough to know for know that the book includes three Bulgarian wines.

? State spending on the wine business: There was a very odd article in Bloomberg Business Week that detailed increasing state spending on regional wine. Why odd? Because the article inferred, given the budget crises facing so many states, that money spent on developing local wine was money poorly spent. Yet it never quite got around to saying that. Texas spends more than $3 billion annually; wine gets $2.3 million. The Wine Curmudgeon is an ardent supporter of regional wine, but I'm an even bigger supporter of good journalism. If someone at Bloomberg wants to say that state spending on wine could be put to better use, then say so, and let's discuss it.

? Booze and the recession: Do people drink more when the economy is bad? That's the conventional wisdom, that we drink away the hard times. But it's not necessarily true, says a new study by a California state agency. The Board of Equalization, which deals with tax policy, found that U.S. spending on alcohol, before the 2008-09 recession, rose 2.4 percent. In contrast, during the 2008-09 recession, spending on alcohol declined by 1.7 percent. This is an especially relevant report, given that so many states are considering booze tax increases to make up recession-caused deficits. It seems to imply that if states are going to raise consumption taxes, they should do it when the economy is good, since new taxes will bring in more money.