US, wine consumption still down, but, for the first time since October 2023, trend improves

Things seem to be improving slightly, on the consumption front for wine and spirits in general, in the United States, the world’s leading wine market and Italy’s first foreign partner (and where Italian exports in the first 2 months of 2024 mark +5.9% in value, at 278.5 million euros over the first two months of 2023, according to Istat data analyzed by WineNews). However, the overall picture remains negative, with consumption still declining, albeit less sharply than in the recent past. This is according to SipSource analysis (on data for the 12 months to April 2024), the system of the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America, which represents more than 60% of products sold wholesale by volume from distributors in all 50 states. Overall, spirits and wine consumption declined by -4.7%, a slightly better figure on the -5.2% through March, and more importantly, SipSource points out, the first sign of trend improvement since October 2023.
In detail, however, the wine scenario remains complex. White wines (-5.4%) have outperformed both reds (-9.4%) and rosés (-8.7%), over the past 12 months. Prosecco, in particular, continues to be a strong point for the wine industry: growing steadily for more than a year, the segment gained +4.8% in April, a +1.3% improvement over Marchd’s trend. Price levels between $13 and $18 per bottle (+7.0%) and between $8 and $13 per bottle (+2.9%) account for almost all of Proseccod’s volume and have been key drivers of its growth.