Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/89494
MANAGEMENT MARKET WATCH The TIM TEICHGRAEBER Low-Alcohol Ruse U.S. consumers pay little mind to wines marketed as being less potent style drinks in the U.K. and other European Union countries dovetails rather conveniently with a couple of hot low-alcohol categories in America – moscato and sweet red wines – but the things that seem to be driving low-alcohol wine bev- erages in Europe and in the U.S. appear to be rather different. Those marketing low-alcohol wine beverages often cite a Wine Intelligence study on consumer opinions about lower-alcohol wines among consumers in the U.S., U.K., Germany and China, which was commissioned by the German wine fair Prowein. Here are some of the findings of that survey: Significant percentages of regu- lar wine drinkers in each country said their ideal alcohol level for wine was under 12%. Wines that are lower in alcohol are being marketed in the U.S. as "lighter" in style. Photo: Thinkstock ow-alcohol wines are becoming a serious category in the United Kingdom, and generating so much buzz in the United States that you'd think they are about to be the second coming of the Beatles. Me, I guess I've always been a Rolling Stones guy, not to mention more than a tad cynical. From my vista, there are plenty of indications that there are a num- ber of unconnected trends at play in the realm of sub-12% alcohol wines, which only coincidentally have the aspect of low alcohol in common. The rise of wine cooler- WWW.VWM-ONLINE.COM In China, 91% of respondents said their ideal alcohol level for wine would be between 8.5% and 10.5%. Of British respondents, 22% said their ideal wine alcohol level was 10.5% or less, and consumers in the U.S. and Germany responded similarly. The numbers of consumers pre- ferring wines of 10.5% or less were even higher for drinkers in the 18-39-year-old-age group. Those of us in the business know that the vast majority of table-wine sales are of wines with an alcohol level of more than 12.5%, and mostly over 13% Tim Teichgraeber cut his teeth in retail wine sales before becoming the wine col- umnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Today he is a contributor to the San Fran- cisco Chronicle, Tasting Panel, Opus Vino and other publications, when he's not working as an entertainment lawyer in San Francisco. ("table wines" are legally defined as between 12% and 15%). So what does this tell us about these consumers' responses? That they probably don't pay very close atten- tion to the alcohol levels of the wines that they're drinking, and/or they don't know much about how wine is made and the natural range of most non-manipulated wine alcohol levels. The same study found that 37% of U.K. wine drinkers don't know how many units of alcohol a typi- cal wine bottle contains, and 71% can't estimate the units of alcohol a low-alcohol wine contains. I don't believe this survey tells us that reg- ular wine drinkers have a newfound interest in low-alcohol wines. All it shows, arguably, is that newbies are drinking cheap, sweet, wine-based beverages, and that they aren't pay- SHORT COURSE The low-alcohol wine category includes a confusing mix of prod- ucts that appeal to consumers for different reasons. The track record of wines mar- keted for low-alcohol content in the U.S. is poor. Sweetness and low calorie con- tent are contradictory lures for new consumers, but not likely to draw existing wine consumers. Tax breaks in the U.K. and entry into grocery stores in some U.S markets drive new sales of low- alcohol wines. NOV - DEC 2012 VINEYARD & WINERY MANAGEMENT 27