Wine Spectator magazine reports that Americans are on pace to drink more wine in 2008 than ever before, but this year’s expected growth of 1.5 percent represents the industry’s smallest increase since 2001, the last time the U.S. economy was in a recession.
Nevertheless, retail sales of wine within the United States will surpass $25 billion for the first time this year, and set an all-time high of 306 million cases purchased, according to the just-released The U.S. Wine Market: Impact Databank Review and Forecast, 2008 Edition. The current financial crisis and struggling economy is expected to dampen industry growth, at least in the short term.
The U.S. market surpassed Italy in terms of wine consumption in 2007, and had been on pace to overtake France and become the world’s largest wine consumer within five years, according to the report. That may still occur by 2015.
But as the economic malaise spreads globally and slumping financial markets shrink consumers’ disposable incomes, sales are expected to weaken, particularly in restaurants and bars. Imports, which tend to sell more at restaurants and bars, have outperformed their domestic counterparts every year since 1995, but American wines are now forecast to outpace imports until at least 2015.
While consumption growth has slowed considerably this year, wine has, on average, outperformed beer and distilled spirits for nearly 60 years running, when measured by the growth of servings per person. Americans consumed over 18 billion glasses (5-ounce servings) of wine last year, a five-fold increase since 1950, according to Impact Databank, which is owned by M. Shanken Communications, the parent company of Wine Spectator.
The number of wine servings consumed on a per-capita basis last year reached an all-time high, at over 85 servings annually, besting the previous record set in 1982, during the heyday of the white wine cocktail boom.
Source: Wine Spectator
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