Wine Analysts Peer Into Their Crystal Ball
More Americans are drinking more wine, with Millenials and women increasing their clout in the marketplace, according to a roster of recent studies on the U.S. wine market.
According to the Wine Market Council, American wine drinkers—approximately 40 percent of adults—quaffed 302 million cases of wine in 2014, up from 298 million cases the previous year. For the first time, women wine drinkers outnumber men, comprising 54 percent of wine consumers. Millenials, defined as those born from 1977 to 1994, make up 29 percent of American wine consumers but drink 34 percent of all wine consumed.
The vast majority of wine consumed in this country—81 percent—goes down the throats of what the council dubs “high-frequency wine drinkers,” approximately 30 million Americans who drink wine more than once a week. Overall wine consumption of that group is up 35 percent over last year. Not surprisingly, given Millenials’ affinity for technology and social media, Facebook and Twitter play important roles in their wine drinking, with 62 percent of Millenials and 40 percent of Gen X wine consumers using Facebook to communicate about wine, and roughly half those numbers using Twitter.
Interestingly, though Millenial consumers are generally more adventurous wine drinkers than their Baby Boomer counterparts, more than half say they consider wine reviews “very” or “extremely” important when it comes to choosing a wine.
When it comes to women wine drinkers, the stereotype of women as gravitating to Chardonnay and sweet wines turns out not to be true. In fact, according to a California study, both men and women chose Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot as their top wine choices, divurging at No. 3, when men preferred Pinot Noir and women White Zinfandel. There was also agreement between the sexes on the occasions and motivations for wine drinking. The biggest difference in men and women’s wine drinking habits was drinking alone—men’s wine consumption remained steady, while women said they tended to drink less when not socializing with friends and family.