A Bottle of Wine’s Value – Where is Your Price Point?
On the price point spectrum, where does your favorite bottle of wine reside?
Are you in the economy zone, mid-level but not great or the premium fantastic zone?
What price bottle of wine are you consuming?
Interestingly enough, 73% of wine you consume in the United States has a retail price under $11. We are sometimes in this category, as you’ve read, we’ve even recommended an old world $5 bottle of wine in the past (Primitvo.)
According to the Wall Street Journal today, IRI Global Revenue Growth Management analysis shows a wide differential between consumption at the top, in contrast to the economy price zone of US consumers. Only 4% of wine sells above the $20 per bottle threshold, while 25% sells below $5. Here is the full list of what we’re buying (% of bottles sold):
4%- $20 a bottle and above
6% -$15-$20 a bottle of wine
16% – $11-$15 a bottle of wine
21% – $8-$11 a bottle of wine
27% – $5-$8 a bottle of wine
25% – $5 and below
And, according to them, five vinotypes capture 63% of total dollars spent. Is your favorite bottle of wine on this list of vino we’re consuming here in the United States?
#1 Pinot Noir
#2 Chardonnay
#3 Red blends
#4 Syrah
#5 Riesling.
We’re a little surprised Pinot Noir would top the list and that Syrah and Riesling would make the list. We’ve always found Pinot Noir to be the bridge between white wine drinkers and red wine drinkers. If you’re not a big fan of red, you can still enjoy a Pinot, and red wine lovers can enjoy it as well, even though they may not love Pinot. We would have expected Cabernet Sauvignon to grab the number four spot where Syrah resides. Since Syrah tends to be heavier, we thought Cab would rank higher. And we’re just flat-out surprised Reisling would make the top five, beating out White Zinfandel for the last spot.
We lead a wine committee for our yacht club (it’s brutal work, but someone has to do it) and we’ll take this information into consideration while fine tuning our wine selections.
Bill Hodge & Erin O’Neill-Hodge enjoy a good bottle of wine, visiting and enjoying California wineries from Lake County to Orange County, from the Paso Robles Gold Coast to Gold Country and from Lodi to Bakersfield.
