Why do wine sales numbers so often disagree?

Because the most important surveys don’t necessarily count the same things

Ever wonder why one wine sales survey can say one thing, while another can report something that is almost the opposite? Which happens almost all the time. One of my favorites: The three studies that offered a half dozen or so completely different takes on wine sales in 2021 that included down, up, really down, and really up.

Fun, huh?

The reason for all of this — and I know this will make your head hurt – is that almost all of the sales surveys measure different things using different methods and different sales figures. Some even use estimates, forecasts, and economic modeling. In all, there are six or so surveys that matter, as well as a couple of others that sort of matter. And, to make this even more confusing, the surveys that use checkout scan data are not the most accurate.

I explain all this gobbledygook in a freelance piece for Wine Industry Advisor. As one of the people I interviewed said: “Anyone who says they know what’s happening to total sales is fooling themselves.”

Ain’t wine grand?

Photo:”Walmart Grocery Checkout Line in Gladstone, Missouri” by Walmart Corporate is licensed under CC BY 2.0.