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Monday, May 24, 2021

2020 Wine Varietal Winners/Losers

2020 was a weird year for consumer products -- that's not news. People turned to buying online, cooking at home, and stocking up on toilet paper (raise your hand if you still have 50 rolls of Charmin in the house). Some wine varietals went up in sales, some down for no apparent reason other than it was 2020.  

Half of the U.S. wine market is made up of just four varietals/types. Chardonnay, red blends, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Grigio/Gris make up 50% of sales.

  The highest growth rates:

  • Sauvignon Blanc grew by almost 10%.
  • Prosecco grew by over 7%. 

Sauv Blanc did well possibly because it's the least expensive of the major dry wine varietals. New Zealand SBs can be quite reasonably priced. Prosecco grew because it's kind of fun and kind of cheap and has been growing anyway.

  The biggest losers:

  • Merlot sales dropped by almost 10%.
  • White Zinfandel lost over 7%.

Boy, Merlot is really taking it in the gut -- still. It's been over 15 years since the movie Sideways badmouthed Merlot and this wine is still tanking. White Zin, well what can I say except good riddance as much of it is low-grade soda pop. Yes, rosé all day fans, even rosé sales were down slightly.

Data from Silicon Valley Bank's State of the Wine Industry report

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