May 2009: Consumers Go For Both Cheap And Choice

Consumers went for both cheap and choice in May 2009. Wine Industry Insight’s analysis of data from Information Resources Inc. shows that consumers bought more wines from the bottom and top shelves than anywhere in between. Significantly, they drank more at every price point than they did during the same four-week period last year as the meltdown of 2008 was preparing to strike.

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While it’s no surprise that the fastest selling wines are both box and glass wines selling for $1.94 to $4.46 per 750ml equivalent, the growth of sales off the top shelf still continues. Wines costing an average of $24.94 per bottle brought in a solid 4.8 percent gain.

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DROPPING PRICES MAY BE ENCOURAGING INCREASED SALES AT HIGHER END

While sales continue to rise, the average price per 750ml is climbing slightly for less expensive wines and dropping as the price increases.

[Table redacted, VIP premium Content. Subscription information here.]

ONLY 6 OF TOP 10 VARIETAL/PRICE WINNERS UNDER $5

Only six of the top 10 biggest dollar sales gainers came in under $5 per bottle. Pinot Noir averaging $4.59 per bottle came in number one with a 44.4 percent gain followed by value Syrah at $2.90 with a 41.7 percent increase.

However, value varietals did not walk away with the whole show. Pinot Gris averaging $14.82 came in third along with three others selling from $9.66 to $14.64

RED BLENDS AVERAGING $9.66 ARE OVERALL WINNER

The overall winner for May 2009 were red blends in segment 4 costing an average of $9.66. While their growth rate of 24.3 percent put them in fourth place for growth, they were the largest grossing segment/varietal in the top 10, selling than $4.6 million

SYRAH/SHIRAZ PRICE SEGMENTS MAKE BIG WINNERS & LOSERS

While Segment1 and Segment 6 Syrahs made the top ten, Wine Industry Insight’s analysis (see VIP Content spreadsheet, above) shows that Syrah segments 2,3,4 and 7 fell in to the worst performing, bottom 10. Revenues of the worst-performing Syrahs were approximately 10 times that of the best.

WHITES STILL BIGGEST OVERALL MAKE UP JUST 3 OF TOP 10 FASTEST GROWING

Only three white categories made the top 10: Category 1 Chardonnay and Fume/Sauvignon Blanc and Category 2 Fume/Sauvignon Blanc.

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Significantly, only three of those 10 largest segments made any significant sales gains in May:

• SEGMENT 2 CHARDONNAY,9.6%
• SEGMENT 3 PINOT GRIG/GRIS, 7.7%
• SEGMENT 4 CABERNET SAUV, 4.4%

All of the others either lost sales or grew by less than 1 percent.

For more information see: April 2009: What Are Consumers REALLY Drinking?

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