Beverage Dynamics identifies the fastest-selling wines and spirits in the U.S.
BY RICHARD BRANDES “I
n 2009, everything was about trading down,” states Eric Schmidt, research director for the Beverage Information Group. “There was a
noticeable increase in sales of lower-priced domestic prod- ucts, particularly among spirits. In 2010, however, this dynamic began to shift again. Though value-priced prod- ucts are still doing well overall, consumers are beginning to trade up to above-premium and superpremium brands again. On-premise business, which suffered tremendously throughout 2008-2009, started picking up in 2010, though it has not reached pre-Recessionary levels.”
As the herky-jerky economy moves two steps ahead and one step back, it appears as if the wine and spirits industry, at least, has found its bearings. Indeed, overall wine and spirits sales volume still increased in 2010, according to the latest statistics just released in the Handbook Advance 2011, published by the Beverage Information Group. U.S. distilled spirits sales volume rose to approximately 192.7 million 9-liter cases, repre- senting a 2.1% gain versus 2009 (which saw an increase of 1.6% sales volume over 2008). Spirits revenue growth (the combined dollar total of off- and on-premise sales) actually outpaced volume gains in 2010, increasing 2.7% to $65.8 billion. This is an important indicator, which
30 • Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • March/April 2011
