Tag Archives: wine influencers

Winebits 692: Barefoot, wine thefts, wine influencers

barefoot wine
Welcome to the club, British supermarket wine drinkers!

This week’s wine news: Barefoot is taking over the British wine business, plus wine thieves hit San Francisco, and who needs bloggers when you have influencers?

• Bring on the Barefoot: British sales of Barefoot, the $6 U.S. supermarket wine, grew almost three times faster than overall British supermarket wine in the 12 months ending in January, reports The Drinks Business trade magazine. This is an odd story, since it combines what seem to be legitimate sales statistics with a sponsored post label. Still, if it’s to be believed, British supermarket shoppers are going ga-ga over Barefoot, which the story says was the country’s best selling supermarket wine last year. And, to show that some things never change, one of the top Barefoot sellers was white zinfandel, a wine style that has been out of favor in the U.S. for a decade or more. And no, I have no idea why this is.

• Stealing Italian wine: Thieves are targeting San Francisco wine shops and bars looking for pricey Italian wine, says the Sfist website. The thieves robbed two locations, and tried to rob a third, and their haul focused on Barolo and Barbaresco, high-end Italian red wine. Interestingly, the thieves didn’t steal cash and expensive electronics at one of the shops. This has led to speculation that the robberies were commissioned to get just those wines, which are prized among collectors. Or, says the story, they could be sold under the table to restaurants looking to upgrade their wine lists.

• Yes, influencers: Some of us who write about wine are aghast at the influence of so-called influencers, people with large social media followings who are paid to post about certain brands in the expectations their followers will buy the product. This has aided rose’s growth in the wine business. So, if you’re one of those wine writers, don’t read the rest of this bit. That’s because “Wall Street analysts [are] monitoring Instagram posts to find out what the next consumer drinks trend might be.” Specifically, they’re watching to see if influencers are switching from hard seltzer, currently the market darling, to pre-mixed cocktails. If so, then it’s time to dump the seltzer brands in favor companies who make the cocktails. Ain’t post-modern stock analysis grand?

Winebits 633: Supermarket wine prices, liquor stores, wine influencers

supermarket wineThis week’s wine news: Supermarket wine prices vary significantly from state to state, plus a study says liquor stores and high crime are related and the FTC is going after social media influencers

• Supermarket wine prices: A home product review and renovation site says U.S. supermarket wine prices vary significantly by state, with Mississippi and Georgia selling the most expensive bottles. I mention this not because it’s news to anyone who spends any time on the blog, but because it’s always fascinating to see how non-booze sites deal with wine. To its credit, House Method, which did the survey, doesn’t draw any conclusions about why there is such disparity. (Or explain how it bought wine in supermarkets in states without supermarket wine sales.) The results, at the link, are interesting, if nothing else. Who knew red wine was less expensive in Hawaii than in California?

• Less booze, less crime? That’s the approach one study is urging on Baltimore officials as city leaders rewrite its zoning laws, with an eye toward reducing the number of liquor stores and bars in the city. North Carolina researchers used a computer model that took into account homicide rates in Baltimore, as well as previous research that showed one-half of violent crime can be attributed to alcohol access. The result? The study found that cutting the number of alcohol outlets might reduce homicides by as many as 50 a year, as well as generate savings of as much as $60 million annually.

• Watch out, influencers: The Federal Trade Commission, which regulates advertising, will apparently clamp down on all those Instagram and social media influencers. The agency wants to know if consumers understand how influencers work; that is, that they are paid to endorse products and that they must disclose paid endorsements. This will matter in wine, given the increasing role influencers play in pushing products like rose.