ITALIAN WINE SALES FEEL THE CRISIS - IN THE FIRST TWO MONTHS OF 2009, 17.5% FALL IN QUANTITY AND 19.2% FALL IN VALUE. SPARKLING WINES ARE HOLDING UP WELL. WINE CONSUMPTION IS CHANGING IN THE STATES: LESS AT RESTAURANTS AND MORE AT HOME.

Italian wine sales are feeling the crunch of the crisis on the U.S. market. In the first two months of 2009 sales have fallen by 17.5% in quantity and 19.2% in value, compared to January–February 2008, for a total of 288.360 hl and 138.86 million dollars. These are the numbers released by the President, Lucio Caputo, and the Chairman, Jacopo Biondi Santi, of the Italian Wine & Food Institute in New York.

Wine imports in America in the same period showed a 0.8% increase in quantity and a 20.4% decrease in value. The difference in the two parameters is due to the increase in imported wines from other countries, which have significantly dropped prices: Australia is first with a 30.8% increase in volume and a 20.4% decrease in value. Even Italy’s greatest wine competitor loses ground: France reported a 7.9% decrease in quantity, and a 30.4% decrease in value. Italian sparkling wines, on the other hand, are holding up well: they show a 0.8% increase in quantity and a 1.5% increase in value against a general decline in sales of sparkling wines in the U.S. (18.5% less in quantity and 37.1% less in value). There are also other changes in wine consumption overseas. People are drinking less wine at restaurants and more at home. Several factors confirm this state of health of the nectar of Bacchus on tables in the United States. According to the annual survey of the magazine “Wine & Spirits” on the sale of wine in restaurants in the U.S., 38% of respondents noted a decline in 2008, while for 62% of respondents sales are stable or slightly increasing. Among important wines, Italian wines are the most popular at the table: 17% ordered in a market that remains American dominion (54% of wine ordered is American) even though it has decreased by 2% from 2007 and 12% from 2001, confirming a negative trend for American labels.
Pinot Noir is the most requested, followed closely by Cabernet Sauvignon. The survey has highlighted the “Top 50” brands of wines requested. Sonoma Cutrera Vineyard is number one. Among the Italian wines, the outstanding Santa Margherita is twelfth, and Ruffino comes in at eighteenth. While sales have decreased in restaurants, even in the States the place to drink the nectar of Bacchus is now in the home: according to an analysis of the Wine Market Council, 64% of consumers drink wine at home together with ready-to-eat meals purchased in restaurants and grocery stores. Only 10% of the adult population drinks wine every day but they absorb 82% of the entire wine market in the United States.

Retail distributors are now seizing the moment and moving towards this trend: the supermarket giant Walgreens is considering a return to marketing wines and spirits in their sales centers, which are almost everywhere in the United States. They had stopped selling alcohol more than ten years ago, which at that time accounted for 12% of their turnover.