Blended blush, rose´ growth blow away 2016 varietal market: Nielsen

Overall 2016 table wine off-premise sales revenues were up 4% on a 1.5% volume increase, according to Nielsen’s 2016 full-year data for the 52 weeks ending December 31.

 

However, blended blush and rose´ growth blew away  the rest of the varietal market.

No competition for pink growth

While starting from a smaller overall volume and revenue base, blended blush wines topped all varietals for dollar volume growth — 56.9% — and had no close competition at all for highest average bottle price increase: $0.84 per 750ml.

 

Blush beats Cab and Pinot on per-bottle pricing

What’s more, blended blush’s average bottle price of $10.34 beats all but one varietal for average per-bottle price, including Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon. Only Zinfandel sold for a higher average price: $10.65.

 

In fact, blended growth’s nearest competitor for growth comes from traditional rose´.

 

Nielsen data show that rose´ selling for more than $7.99 per 750-ml bottle grew 56% by sales revenue and 55.3% in volume. That latter figure bested the blended blush which grew 44.2% in volume. That category also had the highest per-bottle sale price of all varietals in the Nielsen data — $13.28.

2017: A blended blush year?

While the growth of red blends, especially among Millennial wine drinkers, received a lot of attention in 2016 (Silicon Valley Bank’s 2017 State of the Industry Report), soaring sales of blush blends may offer a glimpse of a trend for 2017.

 

While Nielsen has no official numbers for its market coverage, multiple sources including Nielsen data customers and others involved in data analysis tell Wine Industry Insight that Nielsen covers about 70% of the off-premise table wine market.

 

In addition, Nielsen data do not include direct-to-consumer sales which account for an additional  5 million cases shipped in 2016, with value reaching $2.33 billion.

 

Nothing particularly startling in rest of the 2016 roundup

Other than the blended blush and rose´ trend, the Nielsen data for 2016 contained no other surprises. In brief:

 

• Overall table wine volume were up 1.5% and revenues climbed 4%.
• Imports finished year with 26.9% of market, off 0.4%.
• Biggest revenue increases were in the $15-$19.99 price segment, up 11.8% on a 1-cent/bottle price drop.
• The over $20 segment gained 9.,9% in revenues on a price decrease of $0.17/bottle. The average bottle was priced at $28.
• In traditional varietals, Sauvignon Blanc was up 11.3% and Cabernet Sauvignon, 6.4%.
• Syrah/Shiraz sales revenues continued to suck, down 11.2%. Zinfandel was off 1.9%
• French and New Zealand imports soared, 14.3% and 14.5% respectively. Italian import revenue climbed 4.8%. Australia, Argentina, Chile and Germany fell.