US Direct to Consumer Sales Stall, but Demand for $100 and $200 Bottles Grows

One of the most important trends in the US wine market over the last decade or so has been the growth in winery DTC – Direct To Consumer sales. With an average price per DTC bottle of $41.16.

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Value and volume growth since 2011. Chart: Sovos ShipCompliant and Wines Vines Analytics
Value and volume growth since 2011. Chart: Sovos ShipCompliant and Wines Vines Analytics

Between 2011 and 2021 average compound growth was an extraordinary 11%, rising to a value of $4.2bn, out of a total for domestic and imported wines of $78.4bn. DTC now represents 12% of all US off premise wine sales by value.

Even more significantly, in 2021, the average price per DTC bottle was $41.16, a retail price few European wineries could dream of getting from visitors to their cellars

In 2022, however, as Sovos ShipCompliant and Wines Vines Analytics reported, for the first time in 13 years, the channel saw a decline of 10.3% in volume and 1.6% in value.

Andrew Adams, Wine Analytics Report editor at Wines Vines Analytics told the US online platform Wine Business that after doing well during the pandemic, DTC almost inevitably saw a reduction in 2022 when  “Consumers were spending much more time in restaurants and bars as the on-premise sector rallied.”

For observers of the US market, however some more interesting numbers lay behind those declines. The average price per bottle continued to rise – to $45.16, up by nearly 10% on 2021 and ultra-premium offerings did spectacularly well. Sales of wines selling at $100 or more rose by 7.8%, while those with price tags of over $200 shot up by 20%.

Lower-priced wines selling for $30 or less (everything is relative), by contrast dropped in sales by 17.5%.

 

 

 

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