US Becomes World’s Leading Still Light Wine market

In a watershed for the global wine industry, the US overtook Italy in 2011 to become the largest single still light wine market. According to the IWSR, still light wine sales in the US reached 300.6m cases in 2011, a rise of 4.2% over 2010. Meanwhile, the Italian market declined by 1.2% to 297.3m cases. France also continued its long-term decline, falling by 0.8% to 271.6m cases.

In the US, local wines increased by 5.1% to 221m cases, whereas imports increased by 1.9% to 82.1m cases. Within that, demand for moscato and sweet red wines soared in 2011. This demand has been met mainly by local brands and Italian wines. Old World wines in general have done well with rises for Italy (+9.1%), France (+5.4%) and Spain (+8.7%). Meanwhile, unfavourable exchange rates have dampened demand for wines from Chile (-4.4%) and Argentina (+0.5%). Australian wines (-7%) continue to struggle in face of a raft of local brands priced at a similar level and as consumers experiment with other brands from other countries.

There has been a significant increase in imports of bulk wine used for local blending and for sourcing cheap varietals for mainstream brands. There has also been a marked rise in new brands coming to the market.

There is scope for further growth in the US. Per capita consumption is low compared with most major wine consuming countries at just 12.1 litres per annum. Demographics are also favourable, with an estimated 3.5m Americans reaching legal drinking age annually, while there is also more frequent usage and wider geographic take-up. The IWSR forecasts that the US still light wine market will reach 322m cases by 2015.