Las week I came across a grocery store wine sales report that outlined the main varietals and the main wine regions sold in US grocery stores (note the data does not include sales from restaurants and other non grocery stores). The grocery store data is very indicative of what is going on in the market place but not all perfect (big disclaimer). Nevertheless, let me tell you that Washington and Riesling are looking pretty good (we like that at Pacific Rim) – the data is for the past 52 weeks total dollars sold:

Main Wine Regions:

- Big #1: California: $3,000M

- Next three: Australia: $429M, Italy: $305M, Washington: $257M

- Next Six: Chile: $87M, France: $85M, Argentina: $55M, Germany: $55M, New Zealand: $52M, Spain $42M

I know this is only grocery, but look at WA, not bad at all in this channel no?

Main Varietals:

- Big #1: Chardonnay: $942M

- Next three: Cabernet: $558M, Merlot: $423M, Pinot Gris/Grigio: $332M

- Next Six: Pinot Noir: $252M, Sauvignon Blanc: $195M, White Zinfandel: $229M, Riesling: $136M, Syrah: $136M, Zinfandel: $118

Well, looks like Riesling is about to -or will soon-  pass Syrah. Next “varietal” to beat is White Zinfandel!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 18th, 2010 at 6:02 pm and is filed under Wine industry data monster. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.