Wine consumption keeps growing

The Beverage Information Group in Norwalk has found that U.S. wine consumption is maintaining its growth trend and is expected to continue for the next five years.

“As the country recovers from the recessionary environment, the wine industry continues to look positive,” said Eric Schmidt, manager of information services for the Beverage Information Group. “We expect to see wine consumption increase to 310.7 million cases by 2014.”

The company”™s research was recently released in its 2010 edition of it yearly publication, The Wine Handbook. The resource is regarded as a key source for U.S. wine sales and consumption trends and sells for $815.

“A difficult economy may be forcing Americans to do without some things, but wine isn’t one of them,” Schmidt said. “Consumers are buying more each year.”

According to the recently released report, the wine industry continued to post positive results in 2009, marking its 16th consecutive year of growth in the number of cases consumed. Overall wine consumption rose 0.8 percent to 297.0 million 9-liter cases; off-premise consumption continues to grow to 14.6 billion, aided by a competitive marketplace with new brands and competitive pricing.

“Consumers have become more discretionary in their disposable income since the economic downturn,” Schmidt said. “They have embraced ”˜trading down”™ as well as searching for better bargains online.”

The study found that “trading down” is especially popular in the Millennial generation of 21 to 33 year-olds who are willing to experiment, are bargain savvy and use online media to find the best deals. The study also showed domestic wines continuing a trend of outpacing imports in the past year. Domestic wines rose 1.8 percent to 222.7 million cases while imports dropped 2.2 percent, landing at 74.3 million cases. Schmidt said domestic wine growth is expected to continue for at least five years before finding a plateau.

“There is still growth being seen among smaller countries, such as Chile, New Zealand and Portugal,” Schmidt said.