Ted’s musings after Wine and Economy interview on Grape Radio
FYI: I taped a Grape Radio interview the other day about the economy and wine. Brian Clark and I interview Danny Brager, VP of Nielsen Co (he follows the wine trade), and Cyril Penn, editor in chief of Wine Business Monthly. It was very interesting and I hope it’ll be posted soon (next Monday?).
Few trends I learned during preparation and/or taping:
imported rose sales are up 42% compared to last year. (malbec sales way up too.)
sales of under $20 wines are strong but over $20 wines are really struggling (gosh, bet you didn’t know that!)
big brands doing fine but smaller wineries are really struggling (more reason for us to support “the little guy”)
consumers going to restaurants and bars less often. And when they do they’re buying wine by the glass more often than bottle (that is, than before the recession)
US per capita wine consumption is ~ 9 liters/year, whereas it’s ~50 liters in France and 44 liters in Italy!
