THE U.S. MARKET: WINE IS THE FASTEST GROWING DRINK IN THE USA. OCCASIONAL USERS ARE PREDOMINANTLY WOMEN. YOUNG PEOPLE PREFER FOREIGN WINE AND ARE BECOMING TRUE FANS

America continues to remain a peak market, demonstrating a strong dynamic quality even in times of crisis. Thus the suspect that it had become a mature market or rather a saturated market for wine has faded. In the land of whiskey, wine showed the highest increase between 2000 and 2009, with 32% (other beverages 28%; spirits 27% and beer 5%). The majority of occasional consumers are women (66%). Young consumers called the “millennial”, that is, those who became of age after the year 2000, are gradually putting imported wines at the top of their preferences (40%). These are the most important data from the research conducted by the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in New York. The study tracked the ideal-typical profile of the American wine consumer. The data, comprehensive of several research studies (some of which are widely known) also shows that in 2008 the American market consumed 27.2 million hectoliters: a ratio of 79% in domestic consumption and 21% consumption outside the home. Between 2000 and 2008 regular consumers increased from 10% to 16% of the population (about 35 million people), while occasional consumers stayed more or less the same at around 15% (31 million). The U.S. market continues to prefer red wines and young people are moving from the category of occasional to that of regular drinkers, marking the beginning of a new breed of fans.