California remains biggest destination for Napa wines, but losing ground to other states
Wine sales in the US inched up by 2% last month, with a value of $41bn, a figure that remains unchanged in the past 12 months.
But this conceals the underlying growth in the premium sector, which has seen consumers trading up to better quality wines. This has been particularly evident in Sauvignon Blanc, which logged sales of $623m in the 52 weeks to the week ended May 20 in C-stores and multiple outlets, according to IRI.
This represents a 7% increase on the previous year, with growth more than twice as great for bottles priced at $20 and above, and increasing 16% to $23m.
Similarly, premium boxed brands of Sauvignon Blanc, those priced at over $4.50 per 750ml saw sales rocket by over 40% to more than $19m. This is in marked contrast to boxed Sauvignon Blanc priced ast less than $4.50 which dropped by 29%, while bottles reteailing for less than $7.99 saw sales dip by 4%.
Bulk imports, meanwhile, jumped by 13%, while sparkling wine recorded a 3% growth, according to market researchers bw166.
Belinda Weber, marketing director with California –based Duckhorn Wine said that a warm spring helped drive Sauvignon Blanc sales, fuelling the ongoing trend. Both its $20 Decoy Sauvignon Blanc and its $30 Duckhorn Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc saw double-digit growth in the latest 52 weeks at 21% and 19% respectively, with greater growth in the latest 13 weeks.
Overall wine sales through multiple-outlet and convenience outlets in the same period came to $656 million, according to IRI. This was up 2% versus a year earlier even as case volumes were flat at 8.3 million, indicating a higher average spend per bottle.
Stronger pricing was also seen in the direct-to-consumer category, which once again saw growth outstrip the rest of the industry at 7%. A total of $229 million worth of wine were shipped DtC in May, while case volumes increased 9% to 544,724.
While the price of the average bottle shipped fell 2% compared to May 2017 to $34.96, wines from Napa- which dominates the channel, representing 47% of its total value -increased 3% in the latest 12 months to an average of $63.71 a bottle.
And the biggest destination for Napa’s wines over the past year was California itself, accounting for 30% of all shipments, down two percentage points on last year as exports to other states increased, according to Wines Vines Analytics/ShipCompliant by Sovos.
However, despite shipping to a greater number of states, the average value of wines to states outside the top seven only increased by 1%.
Texas was one market which recorded strong sales, the most significant destination for Napa wines outside California itself, which shipped $143m worth of wines in the last year. These wines were priced at an average of $70.18 a bottle, up 7% from last year. Florida, the third largest destination for Napa wines, received wines averaging $74.94 a bottle, up 5% from last year.
Packaged imports remains the fastest growing category in the US, according to bw166, with sales up by 8% to $22 billion in the latest 12 months. French table wines fared particularly well, mainly rose, as well as French and Italian sparkling wines adding an additional $1.7bn in sales for packaged imports, making the sector the single biggest contributor to the $1.9bn increase in sales of domestic and imported wine in the US in the past year.
The sum of all wine sales for the period was $63 billion, up 3% from a year ago.