U.S. Wine Market to Record 15th Consecutive Annual Gain
Rising American interest in wine reaches another milestone this year, as consumers cross the 300 million-case mark
Posted: October 1, 2007
By the end of this year, Americans will drink more wine than Italians for the first time ever, and will trail only France in terms of overall wine consumption. After a 4 percent gain in 2006, the U.S. wine market is projected to reach record consumption of 304 million 9-liter cases, according to the 2007 edition of The U.S. Wine Market: Impact Databank Review and Forecast. Americans are expected to further increase their consumption in the foreseeable future, and at current rates, the United States is expected to surpass France as the world's largest wine market before 2015.
Continued increases in the number of new drinkers are expected to impact overall wine-market growth. Members of the so-called Echo Boom generation—the children of baby boomers—began reaching legal drinking age in the mid-1990s, adding about 60 million potential new wine drinkers through 2010. By the end of this decade, these new adults will be in their 30s, the prime target age for wine marketers. Also, the continued growth in the number of women in the workforce will stimulate increased wine consumption. Female drinkers already have a relatively high preference for wine, compared to beer and spirits, and their rising incomes and more sophisticated lifestyles will fuel continued wine-market growth. Lastly, the industry has benefited from research regarding the potential health benefits of moderate wine consumption.
This year's projected rise in American consumption, 5 percent, is the 15th consecutive annual gain. According to the 600-page report, smaller brands continue to drive industry growth. Forty-nine wine brands sell over 1 million cases each in the United States, but brands that sell fewer than 1 million cases will, in 2007, outperform their larger counterparts—in terms of growth percentage—for the fourth consecutive year. In 2006, the 49 million-case brands combined for a modest 2 percent increase and nearly 60 percent of wine consumption. However, all the brands selling less than 1 million cases each recorded a collective 7 percent gain. Currently, well over 7,000 wine brands are sold in the United States.
The boxed-wine brand Franzia, produced by the Wine Group, will continue to lead the market in terms of case sales for the 13th consecutive year, more than twice the size of second-place Carlo Rossi, produced by E. & J. Gallo winery. Gallo remains the country's largest wine marketer at 21 percent market share, ahead of Constellation Brands, which leads in terms of global wine volume. The Kendall-Jackson brand, however, boasts the top spot in the U.S. in terms of both retail sales and profitability, despite ranking only 12th in terms of volume, according to Impact Databank, which is owned by M. Shanken Communications, the parent company of Wine Spectator.
The annual U.S. Wine Market analyzes the latest trends in the wine industry. Containing over 400 tables, color graphs and maps, this expanded edition consists of results through 2006, the first look at brand forecasts for 2007, projections by origin and category through 2015, comprehensive charts of varietal and generic wine trends by color and type, and industry financial analysis by brand/type. The report also provides volume data for over 500 brands since 1980, rankings of the top 100 wine brands by volume and retail sales, the top 25 marketers, the 50 most profitable brands and much, much more.
For more information about the U.S. Wine Market, which is now available on CD, and other Impact Databank reports on beer, distilled spirits and the global drinks market, contact Elisa Trapani at M. Shanken Communications, 387 Park Avenue S., New York, N.Y. 10016; by phone at (212) 684-4224, ext. 339; by fax at (212) 779-3366; or by e-mail at etrapani@mshanken.com. For a comprehensive table of contents and a detailed listing of tables and charts, or to print an order form, click here.
