THE U.S. MARKET IS NUMBER ONE IN THE WORLD FOR WINE CONSUMPTION AND CONTINUES TO GROW: +1.5% IN VOLUME IN 2013 OVER 2012 AND 328.7 MILLION 9-LITER CASES SOLD, REVEALS THE IMPACT DATABANK REPORT. PEOPLE ARE DRINKING MORE AT HOME AND MUCH LESS OUT

The good news is that the U.S. market, number one in the world (Italy’s top commercial wine partner and leader in value and volume of imported wines in the States), continues to grow: 1.5% in 2013 over 2012 and 328.7 million 9-liter cases sold.
The not as good news, so to speak, is that growth, despite some recovery in the U.S. economy (Wall Street yesterday scored the highest record since 2000) is slowing down; it is 1.7% over 2012 and +3.5% over 2011. These results are due to a decrease in out of the home consumption, offset by the growth of uncorked bottles at home. Here are the highlights of the last Impact Databank report. In particular, according to the research agency "Guest Metrics", that specializes in the channels of eating out, consumption "on-premises" has decreased 1%, on the whole, especially in the latter part of the year. According to IRI data, sales channels "off-premises" have instead grown, largely due to table wines, 2.4% in volume, and even +5.9% increase in value. American wines have taken the lion's share, lead by California and Washington, growing 3.4% in quantity and 7.2% in value, compared to imports, which lost 2.3% in volume, while gaining 1.2% in value.
According to the report, Italy remains the leader among the countries that import wine in America, with a stable performance in 2012 in volume (according to data from Italy Wine & Food Institute, in the first 9 months of the year, +0.4%). Among Italy’s competitors, by volume, the ones that grew the most were New Zealand (+21%) followed by Argentina (+5.5%) and Spain (+2.6%). Quantity wise, all the other major importers did badly: 1.5% less for France, 4.5% less for Chile, 6.5% less for Australia, 11% less for Germany. As has been the case for some years, the "bubbliest” segment was sparkling wine, and Italy, especially thanks to Prosecco, has grown 16% in volume, on a national average and 9.4% in off-premise channels, where it is necessary to keep an eye on the growth of American bubbles, at +8%.

Industry experts say that overall it has been a good year but not an exciting one, like they hope 2014 will be. There are already some signs of optimism, at least for wines made in the USA, according to the forecasts of the Silicon Valley Bank annual report of the wine industry, which asked the opinion of 650 wineries on the West Cost and compared these with other data. According to these results, sales are expected to increase between 6% and 10%...