Top Story: Vinexpo Surveys Wine Drinking Among Women
Women's wine buying and drinking habits have undergone great changes and, in many cases, have leapfrogged wine usage in traditional nations such as France and Germany, according to Vinexpo chairman Xavier de Eizaguirre and chief executive Robert Beynat.
Working with consumer publications here and abroad, Vinexpo surveyed wine drinking among females. Their research showed 93 percent of American women reported consuming wine at least once a week, against 52 percent of French women and 66 percent of German women.
In another reversal of accepted belief, 72 percent of American women consider wine a lifestyle, as compared to 56 percent of French women. The role of price, normally a major factor, also surprised the researcher. But the survey showed cost became a factor for only 56 percent of female consumers in the U.S. as compared to 75 percent for Japanese women and nearly 74 percent for women in the U.K.
Contrary to what many experts have said, label and packaging were minor factors, with only 22 percent of American women citing product appearance as a primary reason for purchases. Four out of five women said they associate wine with meals and two thirds of those surveyed favored wine at the end of the day. American women, far more than their counterparts throughout the world, purchased their wine in a specialist wine shop. About 85 percent of American women purchase their wines in a specialist wine shop and that figure is almost the same in the UK and in Japan. Interestingly, in two traditional wine-consuming nations, the figure is much lower: 56 percent in Germany to 45 percent in France.
Vinexpo takes place June 21-25 in Bordeaux and is reportedly sold out, despite cancellations by industry giants Constellation and Gallo, both now restructuring.
--Mort Hochstein
"Super Core" Wine Drinkers Account for More Than 80 Percent of Wine Sales
A "snapshot" report detailing the profile and attitudes of Super Core wine drinkers has been released to the membership of Wine Market Council. The report is based on an analysis of the tracking study of U.S. wine consumers that Wine Market Council conducts annually, and finds the country's most frequent wine drinkers divided along the lines of preferred wine package size, price points and other segmentation factors.
The Super Core consumer segment consists of daily and several-times-a-week wine drinkers. While they account for only 10.5 percent of the U.S. adult population, they consume 82 percent of all table wine. Of note is the very high proportion of wine consumed at home by this group and their propensity to enjoy wine with takeout food. Fully two thirds of these consumers (64 percent) enjoy wine with takeout meals, compared to less than half (42 percent) of other core wine drinkers and only 27 percent of marginal wine drinkers.
"It would be a mistake to categorize very frequent wine consumers as those who mostly drink high-end wines in 750ml bottles," Wine Market Council chairman Chris Fehrnstrom of Constellation Brands said. "Better understanding the needs and behaviors of this group is of critical importance to wine marketers and Wine Market Council reports such as this give us actionable market intelligence."
"The conventional wisdom within the wine industry is often that high frequency wine drinkers are high-end wine drinkers--whereas, what you can see in the report when you look at frequency of consumption and package size is that they're all over the board," John Gillespie of the Wine Market Council said.
Coming up next for Wine Market Council is the third wave of its ongoing tracking study of the effects of the economy on U.S. wine consumers. The findings of this study will be released to Wine Market Council members in June.
Wine companies with an interest in council research and membership can learn more about Wine Market Council on the Wine Market Council website (winemarketcouncil.com).
Oeneo Successfully Protects Patent
Oeneo, manufacturer of technical closure DIAM, defended a challenge to its patented super-critical technology in the European Office of the Patent in Munchen in late April.
The challenge was filed by Portugal's Cork Supply Group and industry consultant Pedro Gil Ferreira against Oeneo and the government-owned French Atomic Agency CEA, which jointly own the exclusive rights to the patented DIAM super-critical CO2 process. Objectors had challenged DIAM's rights to the super-critical technology.
According to Oeneo, the Diamant process has been scientifically proven to eradicate detectable levels of TCA and other undesirable compounds. It has been used since 2003 to produce and sell nearly 800 million DIAM closures that are TCA free and offer varying levels of Oxygen Transmission Rates (OTR).
DIAM commercial director Dean Banister said that the company is exploring opportunities to share the technology with selected industry partners. That said, of utmost importance to Oeneo is the integrity of the Diamant process. "We need to ensure the technology is used in a responsible manner to continue to deliver efficient closure solutions to the global wine industry," he said.
Regional News
California
Fresno State Receives $29.4 Million Cash Gift
Fresno State College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology received a cash gift of $29,442,516 million on behalf of the Jordan family, the largest single cash gift ever received by the university or in the California State University system.
The Jordan family cash gift, a result of the sale of the Jordans' Dublin ranch, was one of many donations made by the Jordans. The gift is to be used for research and facilities for the College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology.
The Jordans--Hanabul "Bud" Jordan, his wife Dee and his brother Lowell--are from the East Bay. Bud Jordan died April 29, 2002 at the age of 83, and Lowell Jordan passed away in July 2005 at the age of 81. Dee Jordan still lives in Hayward. Dee Jordan, Bud's widow, said she and her husband, who owned a construction business in Hayward, were introduced to Fresno State's ag programs through retired professor Bob Glim and his wife Dorothy. The two couples had a close friendship, and Dee Jordan said the family always appreciated the importance of agriculture in California and believed it needed to be preserved through education.
In the coming months, Charles Boyer, dean of the ag college, and Alcidia Freitas Gomes, executive director of Ag One and the college's director of development, will work with faculty and university administration to determine precisely how the funds will be used in the college.
In honor of the family's donation, Fresno State president John D. Welty consulted with the campus Academic Senate Executive Committee and asked the California State University Board of Trustees to rename the college the Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology at the trustees' meeting May 12-13, 2009. A naming ceremony for the college was held May 14.
Washington
U.S. Approves Lake Chelan AVA
The federal government has approved the 24,040-acre Lake Chelan American Viticultural Area in north-central Washington within the Columbia Valley, making the region the state's 11th appellation.
Lake Chelan, approved in late April, is the second regional designation in the state this year, following Snipes Mountain, a 4,145-acre area in the Yakima Valley that received recognition in January.
"The increasing number of Washington AVAs really speaks to the phenomenal growth and maturity of our state's wine industry," Robin Pollard, executive director of the Washington Wine Commission said in a statement. "We celebrate the great variety of soils and climates in our state and the AVA designations allow each appellation to distinguish their wines from the others."
The Lake Chelan AVA is characterized by its soil components and textures, which are different than those of the Columbia region. According to the Washington Wine Commission, grapes planted in the Lake Chelan AVA have the benefit of the "lake effect," whereby a large body of water absorbs heat during the summer to re-radiate during the fall and winter months and inhibit frost formation, giving the grapes complex structure and allowing a longer growing season with a reduced risk of frost damage.
The appellation for Lake Chelan includes lands adjacent to the southern 12 miles of Lake Chelan. The region already has 15 wineries and 260 acres of grapes planted to Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Riesling, Malbec, Merlot and Syrah.
