Selling Summer
By Chantal Martineau
P
eak season for sparkling wine sales in
the United States falls between
Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve.
Demand for bubbly usually picks up
again around February 14th, then once
more in June when folks are toasting their weddings
and graduations. But the summer months have traditionally seen sparkling sales fall a little flat. In recent
years, however, consumers have started to seek out
bubbly year-round. In the summertime, in particular,
refreshing frizzantes make leisurely brunches more
scintillating and bring a touch of splendor to evenings
on the patio. Plus, bubbles can be the perfect pairing to
everything from barbecue to picnic fare.
According to California's Wine Institute, sparkling
wine and Champagne imports to the U.S. reached 17.7
million cases in 2012, the highest level since 1987. The
fastest-growing sub-sector in the world of bubbles is
prosecco, with shipments of the Italian spumante nearly
doubling between 2007 and 2010. Domestic sparkling
wine is on the rise, too, driven largely by the booming
category of gently fizzy moscato. And the trend doesn't
seem to be fizzling out anytime soon.
30 • Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • July/August 2013
