Nothing Has Changed

Some wine statistics just amaze me. How about you??

Percentage (283) year-over-year growth in quarterly revenue booked by Wine.com, one of the nation’s leading online wine retailers. Citing the pandemic as the driver of much of this unprecedented demand, Wine.com also reports that revenue from Millennials and Generation Z (the purported “Holy Grail” consumer) increased by 121%. Wine.com offers live chats with sommeliers, as well as information about wine and wine regions. Just amazing!

The latest (2018) wine consumption statistics indicate we drink 2.95 gallons per person, which translates to 966 gallons. But a new survey indicates that Americans are drinking more spirits and ready to drink cocktails, like hard seltzers. Beer sales have fallen 2.3%, which surprises the hops out of me. Yet, craft beer sales jumped 4.1%.

The biggest growth in the adult beverage category is the ready-to-drink category, which increased 50% in the last year. Spiked seltzers are now an $8 billion industry! And I will readily admit, it is a nice refresher on a hot summer evening. Easy to drink, just add some crushed ice in a glass!

During the pandemic, perhaps we are all drinking a bit more adult beverages. I readily admit to that, though my two glasses a night is a proverbial drop in the bucket compared to most people. Yet, through it all, wine consumption decreased by almost 1% in 2019. Experts of course, blame the millennials, moving to healthier beverages with low or no alcohol.

So, is the wine consumption boom over? Is it just the “boomers” who drink good wine? What happened to all the beer guzzlers? Are things changing that much? Yet, wine spending increased 1.1% to $28.2 billion. Are we drinking better wines now?

Percentage (45%) increase in weekday alcohol consumption by San Franciscans since the start of the pandemic, according to BACtrack, a Bay Area producer of smartphone-based breathalyzer devices. The company based its assessment on the anonymous BAC (blood alcohol content) data collected from its app users before, and a month after, quarantine began. Thank you Winespeed!

Closer to home, unable to go out to nice restaurants, we are making nicer meals at home. And the “cocktail hour” is a bigger and more important part of the daily, “Ground Hog Day” routine. I have been enjoying by champagne, Cabernet, hard seltzers, and single malt Scotch, not necessarily in that order. What about you??

Just an FYI for you wine fans: South Africa is among the top 9 wine producers in the world. But while Black South Africans represent nearly 90% of the population, they represent fewer than 8% of wine producers. Elected in 1994, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was South Africa’s first Black president. Mandela’s release from Victor Verster Prison in Paarl, in 1990, after more than twenty-seven years in confinement, paved the way for the lifting of trade sanctions and the importation of South African wine into the United States. During this time, many wineries were established or taken over by new owners and black entrepreneurs saw an opportunity to enter the wine industry. In 2010, Nelson Mandela’s daughter Makaziwe and granddaughter Tukwini launched the House of Mandela wine brand, which includes a chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, shiraz, and a sparkling wine. Tukwini has said: “When we started out, many people thought that House of Mandela was just a little project, a gimmick that would not last.” For the Mandela family, who are part of the royal aba Thembu lineage and the Madiba clan, honoring the ancient wisdom of one’s ancestors and honoring the earth give meaning and purpose to life. Upon the release of their wines, the family wrote, “we have chosen wine as a bridge into the future.”