Consumers Retrenching? $20 Wines Continue to Lose Steam in Off-Premise Sales, Chardonnay Losing Popularity?

Perhaps a sign of consumer retrenchment in the face of a recession with no signs of quick recovery, wines selling for more than $20 — which have led off-premise growth for most of 2010 — have continued to slide according to scanner data from The Nielsen Company for the four-week period ending Oct 16, 2010.Wines costing just over $10 per 750ml, topped the off-premise sales. Overall sales were down from the past period — 3.9 percent as opposed to 4.6 percent — with U.S. wines gaining 5.7 percent and imports losing 0.5 percent.

CHARDONNAY’S SLOW GROWTH, OVERSHADOWED BY SAUV BLANC, PINOT NOIR, RIESLING

While still the largest-selling varietal, growth at off-premise outlets has slowed for Chardonnay which made the middle of the list with a 2.6 percent gain.

Varietals showing the best growth were:

• Sauvignon Blanc, 10.4%
• Pinot Noir, 8.8%
• Riesling, 8.3%
• Pinot Grigio/Gris, 7.1%
• Cabernet Sauvignon, 4.6%
• Zinfandel, 3%

OVERALL PRICE SEGMENT GROWTH HIDES DECLINES IN AVERAGE BOTTLE PRICES

Price gainers (by average bottle price) were:

• $10.17, up 10.2% from last year, but down from last month’s average price of $10.25
• $16.63 up 9%  from last year, but down from last month’s average price of
• $12.71, up 8% from last year, but down from last month’s average price of $12.85
• $26.06, up 9.5% from last year, but down from last month’s average price of $26.46
• $4.82, up 4.1% from last year, but down from last month’s average price of $4.85

Losing dollar volume were:

• $2.23, down 3% from last year, with the same average price as last month
• $7.13, down 3.8% from last year, but up from last month’s average price of$7.11

FULL SPREADSHEET AVAILABLE

The Nielsen Company spreadsheet that includes the data on which this article is based is available here for VIP Premium subscribers. Even this full spreadsheet represents just a very small fraction of that available to Nielsen clients.

PREVIOUS 2010 NIELSEN SCAN DATA IN WII

• Nielsen: $10 Wines Lead Off-Premise Sales Amid Modest Price Cuts
• Higher Priced Wines Dominate Off-Premise
• Off-Premise Sales Continue Modest Gains, But $20+ Soars 18.5%
• Discounting Drives US Sales Up 3.6%, Imports Slide, $20+ Wines Still Lead
• US Sales Up 5.9%, Imports Flat, $20+ Wines Still Lead Way
• Imports Down, Domestics Edge Up, $20+ Wines Lead Way
• $20+ Wines Continue To Lead Off-Premise Trading Up
• Wine Industry Recovery: A Graphical Glimpse
• Consumers Starting To Trade Up?
• Jan. Nielsen Data: $20+ Revives, Domestic Brands Outpace Imports Almost 7:1
• Does “Trading Down” Really Exist?