The Grapevine

Wine Industry News: Napa’s Quake, Wine Intelligence Report, NYS Reds, Tenn Retail

October 20th, 2014

A quick round-up of wine industry news from the past week including cost estimates for the earthquake in Napa, a report on the state and trends in the US wine market, changes in New York state vineyards, and status quo in Tennessee. [level-members]

New York State Growing More Red Wines
First, climate change and more and more years of experience across the state are leading to a change in the wines being grown within New York’s borders. Increasingly, high-quality reds are being bottled from regions that would never have attempted Cabs, Cab Franc or Merlot just a few years ago. The Finger Lakes region is one area where this is especially true. Read the full story here.

Tally of Damage from Napa Earthquake
Last Thursday, Shanken News Daily reported that Napa’s August earthquake is likely to be expensive to the tune of more than $80 for the industry as a whole. Presumably, some bottles will get more expensive and harder to find, others will likely jump on the event as a pricing opportunity and just get more expensive. 

US Wine Market Landscape Report from Wine Intelligence
Wine Intelligence released a US Wine Market Landscape report that includes information on the global wine market, the US market, US consumers and their demographic information, and a comparison of on- and off-premise consumption, among other data points.

We haven’t read the whole report – it is priced at $4,000 – but the abstract itself is interesting reading. The good news is that the population of regular wine drinkers continues to grow, both in sheer numbers and in reach across generations and cultural groups. The bad news is that has come, to some extent, at the expense of other beverage categories and producers in those categories are likely to aim at recapturing some of their losses.

Tennessee Retail Market Changes
Finally, following up on our article on the potential for wine sales in grocery stores in some parts of Tennessee, it seems that most convenience stores will not be included.

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