Wine Market Council, the non-profit association of grape growers, wine producers, importers, distributors and other affiliated wine businesses, has compiled relevant research available to any journalists covering wine consumption. Below is a summary of Wine Market Council’s most recent research, some of which was unveiled at the Wine Market Council Annual Research Conference that took place February 6, 2015, in Yountville, California. For questions or additional requests for information, please contact Teplin+Nuss at contact@teplinnuss.com.
RELEVANT WINE MARKET COUNCIL RESEARCH:
1) A Snapshot of the 230 Million Wine Consumers in the U.S:
In 2014, 302 million cases of wine were consumed in the U.S., up from 298 million in 2013. Each U.S. wine-drinking adult drank an average of 3.14 gallons of wine in 2014 (per adult, per capita).
Source: Census Bureau, Beverage Information Group
Of the 230 million adults in the U.S., Wine Market Council found that 40% drink wine as of August 2014. Wine Market Council breaks down the wine drinking population into two groups—33% who are defined as high frequency wine drinkers, that is they drink wine more often than once a week, and 67% who are occasional wine drinkers, that is they drink wine once a week or less often. This translates into approximately 30,360,000 high frequency wine drinkers and 61,640,000 occasional wine drinkers. This high frequency wine-drinking group drinks 81% of the total wine consumed in the U.S. Of the total wine drinking population, 54% are female and 46% are male. By generation, 29% of the total wine drinking population consists of Millennials (1977-1994), 18% are Generation X (1965-1976), 41% are Baby Boomers (1946-1964), and 12% are older (1945-earlier).
Source: Wine Market Council ORC Segmentation Study, August 2014
2) High-Frequency Wine Drinkers are Consuming More Wine:
Although most high frequency wine drinkers report their wine consumption has remained the same over the past year (61%), as a group, their wine consumption is rising overall. Over one-third (37%) increased their consumption over the past year and consumption decreased for only 2%. This results in a net positive of 35 percentage points.
Source: Wine Market Council High Frequency Tracking Study, November 2014
3) High-Frequency Wine Drinking Millennials are Drinking More Wine:
The total wine drinking population continues to grow as the youngest Millennials turn the legal drinking age of 21 in 2015. In terms of wine consumption in 2014 versus a year ago, 59% of millennial high frequency wine drinkers said that they are drinking more wine, whereas 39% of Generation X, 27% of Baby Boomers, and 13% of those 69 and older, claimed to drink more wine than they did the previous year.
In terms of other types of wine, beer, and spirits consumed at least monthly by high frequency wine drinkers, 62% of Millennials consume sparkling or champagne each month, whereas only 33% of Generation X, 21% of Baby Boomers, and 13% of those over 69 consume sparkling or champagne each month. Looking at beer, 86% of millennial high frequency wine drinkers drink beer each month, whereas 79% of Generation X, 67% of Baby Boomers, and 51% of those 69 or over drink beer monthly. When it comes to spirits, 67% of millennial high frequency wine drinkers drink spirits monthly, whereas 61% of Generation X, 56% Baby Boomers, and 52% of those 69 and over, drink spirits on a monthly basis.
Source: Wine Market Council High Frequency Tracking Study, November 2014
4) High-Frequency Wine Drinking Millennials Drink More of Their Fair Share:
Most of the wine consumed in this country is consumed by Baby Boomers, but closely followed by Millennials. Despite the fact that the largest proportion of U.S. wine drinkers are Baby Boomers (41%), and the gap between the representation of Baby Boomers and Millennials is fairly wide (29% of total wine drinkers are Millennials), the gap between the proportion of the total wine volume these two generations consume is much narrower – Baby Boomers consume 37% and Millennials consume 34%. Moreover, the volume of wine Millennials consume exceeds their representation among U.S. wine drinkers (29% of total wine drinkers are Millennials, but Millennials drink 34% of total wine consumed), while the volume of wine Baby Boomers consume underrepresents their proportion of total U.S. wine drinkers (41% of total wine drinkers are Baby Boomers, and they drink 37% of total wine consumed).
Source: Wine Market Council High Frequency Tracking Study, November 2014
The Wine Market Council New York Research Conference Scheduled for March 31st
Wine Market Council has officially rescheduled their tenth annual presentation of U.S. wine consumer trends for Tuesday, March 31st from 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. in New York City. The conference was originally scheduled for January 27th but was postponed due to severe weather developments in and around New York City. At the conference, John Gillespie of Wine Market Council will present highlights from the most recent data from Wine Market Council’s U.S. adult population segmentation study and the annual survey of high frequency wine drinkers. He will also present data from Wine Market Council’s most recent study of consumer imported wine purchase and consumption behavior. In addition, Danny Brager, senior vice president of Nielsen’s Beverage Alcohol Practice Area, will provide an updated wine industry overview including the most recent trends, inclusive of both retail and direct-to-consumer wine channels, as well as perspectives on the battle for occasions within the broader adult beverage industry. Featured guest, Eric Asimov, chief wine critic for The New York Times, will discuss changing attitudes toward wine in American culture as it becomes more popular in the United States. Wine Market Council’s Consumer Research Conferences are free for Wine Market Council members (up to 3 company representatives can attend) and $125 for non-members. Media passes are available. For more information, contact Sherri Fidel at admin@winemarketcouncil.com or 707.738.8796. A networking reception at The Modern, adjacent to the Museum of Modern Art, directly follows the presentation.
About Wine Market Council
Wine Market Council is a non-profit association of grape growers, wine producers, importers, wholesalers, retailers, and other affiliated wine businesses and organizations. The council’s mission is to grow, strengthen, and stabilize the wine market in the U.S. on behalf of all segments of the industry. Wine Market Council provides its members with consumer research that is proprietary to Wine Market Council members, who incorporate it into their strategic planning, marketing and sales execution. Wine Market Council was established in 1994 as a non-profit (501c6) trade association working through all tiers of the U.S. wine industry to grow the wine market. More information can be found at WineMarketCouncil.com and on Twitter @WineMktCouncil.
