The foreign policy of American wine drinking
wine drinkers to stick to home-grown varieties, a survey has
reassured the rest of the viticultural world that they would still
be willing to try other things, writes Kim Hunter Gordon.
According to an online Harris Poll of 1,323 Americans carried out last month, a quarter of US wine drinkers would drink Polish wine. Unfortunately, it is not yet available for sale in the country, but the news is good for wine producers across the world that have been afraid that Americans have started to drink Californian at the expense of everything else.
Almost three-quarters of American wine drinkers say they would try Itlian wine, slightly more than the 64 per cent who would French. And, half would try Australian wine - a figure that beats the other major New World producers New Zealand (41 per cent) and Chile (36 per cent), with South Africa barely raising more interest than Poland (29 per cent).
Despite the fact that these figures come from a survey, and one of relatively small sample size, any data on Americans' perception of wine is highly sought after. In 2003, US wine consumption hit a record 258.3 million cases. It is a crucial market for all wine producers.
Datamonitor analyst John Band told BeverageDaily.com that although he thought 2003 was an exception, he expects US wine consumption to continue to grow.
"2003 was an exception because of a large supply and falling price demands. But we do expect wine sales to keep growing long term in the US, as we do in all traditional beer drinking markets."
But, according to the survey, wine drinking Americans appear not to drink as often as one would imagine and do not spend very much per bottle. A large majority - 73 per cent - said that their household only buys one bottle of wine a month or less, and just 5 per cent had ever bought a bottle costing $30 or more.
But, those that had were more likely to buy wine from France than any other foreign country (58 per cent). And, to add to the good news for France, 59 per cent of Americans in the category that buy at least a bottle each week said they would consider buying French.
These statistics follow the announcement from Bordeaux winemakers earlier this month that exports to the US were down 35 per cent in volume and 59 per cent in value in the last three quarters of 2004.
The steady fall in the dollar in the last quarter will have had a lot to do with this figure - but so too has the growing profile of the California brands, and the more money that becomes available to market them as the big players in wine continue to consolidate.
Datamonitor's John Band said that "nationwide marketing in the US is expensive. You need to be big - which is the most important factor driving the sales of any particular wine."
So, although French wines sales may be down in general, French brands with the right marketing might behind them could still do well. One such brand, Pont d'Avignon, a mid-priced AOC Côtes du Rhône, is due to be launched in March this year by Californian giant E&J Gallo, building on the success of its Red Bicyclette Vin de Pays d'Oc launched last year. Analysts and foreign winemakers alike are likely to watch its sales figures closely.
