Wine Drinking in U.S. Continues to Decline

U.S. wine consumption declined 4.9% last year as modest increases in the sale of higher-priced wines failed to offset the continued plunge in popularity of wine coolers, an industry journal reported Wednesday.

Moreover, according to San Francisco wine consultant Jon Fredrikson, who tracks sales independently, the downward trend appears to be continuing this year--even in California, by far the nation’s leading producer.

Wines & Vines, a magazine that covers the industry from vineyard to retail, reported in its current edition that wine consumption totaled 552.2 million gallons last year, down 28.7 million from 1987 and off 34.9 million gallons from 1986. Excluding wine coolers, dessert wines and sparkling wines, however, consumption showed a very slight increase to 340.4 gallons, up 0.5% from the 338.6 million consumed in 1987. However, that still lagged well below the 351.8 million gallons of 1986.

According to editor Phil Hiaring in San Rafael, where Wines & Vines is published, declining U.S. consumption figures parallel those in other wine-producing countries. He attributed the data to a move up among consumers from so-called jug wines into premium categories.

“Americans, like Europeans generally, are drinking less but drinking better,” Hiaring said.

But according to Fredrikson, the decline in wine shipments is continuing in 1989, and the fall in popularity of wine coolers and a shift toward consumption of better-quality wines no longer fully accounts for the change.

“The lost popularity of wine coolers does exaggerate the decline in (current) California shipments,” Fredrikson said in an interview. In the first four months of this year, he said, shipments overall decreased 8%, including wine coolers, which still accounted for more than one-fifth of total wine sales last year. Excluding cooler sales, he said, still leaves a 3% drop.

“That 3% is alarming,” he added, “because that is in largely traditional wines. In prior years, if you took out coolers, the industry was up because the premium segment offset (declines) in jug wines. But this year, the premium segment is maybe breaking even and jugs are still plummeting.”

Fredrikson attributed this change both to higher wine prices and consumer concerns stimulated by several years of increasing anti-alcohol publicity, which resulted last year in California with the requirement that retailers of alcoholic beverages post health warnings.

In any case, annual consumption per person nationally declined 5.9% last year to 2.25 gallons, Wines & Vines reported. While 2.39 gallons were consumed per person in 1987, the average stood at only 1.96 gallons in 1978.

Excluding the District of Columbia and Nevada, where consumption statistics are exaggerated by large numbers of non-resident sales of wine, California leads the nation in wine per inhabitant with 4.17 gallons, the magazine said. (The District of Columbia tops the annual listing with 6.22 gallons, followed by Nevada’s 4.85 gallons.)

Wine & Vines also reported that only 14% of all wine sold in the United States last year was red, with white, “blush” and rose wines comprising 86% of the total. California produced 90.5% of all domestic wine, 428.4 million gallons, up 9.6%, and accounted for 72% of domestic sales. In all, 43 states now have bonded wineries, the magazine said.

WINE CONSUMPTION

Wine consumption by state, in gallons per capita. Data is for 1988.

THE TOP FIVE: District of Columbia Nevada California Vermont Washington THE BOTTOM FIVE: Arkansas Kentucky Utah West Virginia Mississippi Source: Wines & Vines magazine via Associated Press