Problem With The US Wine Market
I attended a DTC webinar where some well intended experienced wine business people discussed the best path forward for the American wine industry. The problem is as I'm watching them parrot back what the group think is in the market now, and I am fairly certain they are wrong. Tell me if you've heard this take before. Consumption levels are down 4% overall. The biggest drop is in the bulk wine segment under $12 which is down 30-40% depending on who is presenting the data set. Meanwhile, the average bottle price is up 11% year-to-year, thus the thinking is that consumers are drinking less but spending more when they do drink wine. I think this conclusion is total bullshit. Let's run the math for a second. There are four consecutive years of declining sales volumes. 85 million people drank wine in the United States in 2023, versus 76 million last year. Casual wine drinkers, those that drink wine once every 2-3 months ...
