This report, authored by Rob McMillan, paints what seems to be quite an alarming picture about wine sales in the USA. The only growth segment is the over 60s, while young consumers seem to be abandoning wine, or not taking it up in the way they used to. Is this something we should be concerned about? And, if so, what can we do about it?
I have a number of responses to this. First: yes, we should be concerned about any fall-off in consumption of wine. But I don’t think there’s any need to panic. These data are for the US market, and may not be generally applicable to all markets. They also focus mainly on direct-to-consumer sales, which is a segment of the market that is more likely to include older customers, because they can afford these wines. Also, this is looking at the market as a whole, rather than segmenting it. Different levels of the market behave quite differently, and by putting everything together, interesting trends and stories might be lost.
Evan Goldstein MS recently addressed this topic at the tenth annual Diam/G3 summit, held in the Willamette Valley and Sonoma.
‘Everyone is saying don’t focus on the boomers,’ he said. ‘It’s fashionable to bash the older generation, but they are the only growing segment in the wine business.’ It’s a big segment, and while it would seem prudent to focus on younger people, it would be daft to ignore a segment that likes wine, drinks a lot of it, and has the disposable income to afford it. ‘Marketing of fine wine has been more about disposable income than about age,’ says Goldstein. ‘The over 60s own everything. They contribute to over 50% of consumption – older people are living older and are in better health, and they are consuming more.’
To read full article, click HERE.