Beverage Dynamics is the largest national business magazine devoted exclusively to the needs of off-premise beverage alcohol retailers, from single liquor stores to big box chains, through coverage of the latest trends in wine, beer and spirits.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/143145
CALIFORNIA WINE CENTRAL California Is a Country When It Comes to Wine By Jeremy Nedelka A s part of this year-long California wine supplement, we've looked at how each region in the Golden State creates, markets and sells wine. But how is California wine perceived across the country? Is the state a category in itself, or is it grouped with other U.S. wines when compared to international offerings? Beverage alcohol stores around the U.S. classify the state alongside France, Australia, Italy and other countries as its own region. Data Collection The Beverage Information Group (BIG), which is owned by Beverage Dynamics' parent company, Specialty Information Media, conducted a study in March to answer those questions and more. BIG performs quarterly retail audits through its Shelftrac product, which provides brandlevel distribution, shelf placement and pricing information within 25 metropolitan markets. More than 1,500 outlets comprised of grocery, drug and liquor retailers (both chain and independent) were surveyed during the study. The section of the audit concerning California wines asked the following questions: Does the outlet visually separate its wine selections by region? If the answer was no, the survey stopped for that store. If the answer was yes, the audit asked: Is one of those regions California? Again, if the answer was no, the survey stopped. If the answer was yes (as it was in more than 31% of the stores surveyed), the auditor determined the following: -How many facings (visible rows of bottles) are in the California section? -How many red wine facings are in the California section? -How many white wine facings are in the California section? Finally, the survey listed 10 California wine brands, and determined whether they were stocked in the California wine section of each store (if the brand was found elsewhere in the store, it wasn't counted). National Display of California Wines Stores with regional displays: 49.7% • California displays: 63.5% (31.6% of total) Average # of California wine facings: 119.2 • Average red wine facings: 52.6 Research Findings • Average white wine facings: 45.5 National Brand Distribution Percentage of stores with a CA display where each brand was stocked. Woodbridge: 87.2% Beringer: 86.2% Sutter Home: 85.3% Barefoot: 84.1% Kendall-Jackson: 78.3% Carlo Rossi: 58.7% SkinnyGirl: 56.9% Rodney Strong: 56.3% J.Lohr: 52.3% Bota Box: 30.3% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Nationally, nearly 50% of retailers surveyed separated wine into regions. Liquor stores (58.6%) were most likely to use this organizational method, while food (37.8%) and drug (19.8%) retailers were less inclined to identify wines by their origin. Of those outlets that separated by region, 63.5% included a California section. In this case, there was less of a difference by outlet type: liquor (69.8%), drug (68.8%) and food (40.5%). For stores with a stocked California wine section, the average number of facings was 119.2, ranging from 129 for liquor stores to 55 for drug stores. There were an average of 52.6 red facings and 45.5 white facings in these outlets. The proportion of reds to whites was consistent throughout the three outlet types. Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • July/August 2013 • 13