Wines with the lowest bottle prices accounted for the largest share, or 32%, of the total volume (in 9L case equivalents) of wine shipped direct to consumers in the 12 months through January. Wines slightly above the middle range in bottle price accounted for the largest share of dollars sold: 20%. But the small number of wines priced at more than $100 per bottle took the second-largest share of dollars at 18%. The average bottle price of wine shipped direct-to-consumer in January was $35, up 10% from a year earlier.
The economic health of the domestic wine industry looked good in January based on our three main measures. Retail wine sales, direct-to-consumer shipments and winery hiring activity were all higher than 12 months earlier. The Winery Job Index, calculated at 8% by Winejobs.com, grew faster than the other two indicators. Since all three are traditionally at or near their yearly lows in January, it bodes well for further growth in 2011.
—J.G.
Retail sales of domestic table wine grew by a healthy 5% in the four weeks ending Jan. 23. It was a slight decrease in the rate of growth from the previous month. Source: Symphony IRI Group.
In January, one of the slowest months of the year for domestic wineries' DtC shipments, dollar sales still hit $64 million, a 3% increase over January 2010. Source: Wines & Vines/ ShipCompliant Model.
January hiring activity at wineries was 8% higher than in 2010. This rate ticked up slightly from December. Note that the January level of the index is significantly higher than two years earlier. Source: Winejobs.com.
