The total growth for the US wine market rose by just over one percent in 2019, slowing from a historic yearly growth of between three and four percent, reports California's Gomberg, Fredrikson & Associates (GF&A) in their annual wine market report.
Imported sparkling wine, bottled sangria and coolers were the primary growth drivers that pushed the market to hit 409 million cases. The slowdown means California wine producers currently hold approximately one month’s worth of oversupply and, due to the slower market, the oversupply will take longer to work through the system. This could potentially cause problems for grape growers operating without contracts, as well as bring more competition to the marketplace as merchants buy the excess and use it to create opportunistic new brands.
The GF&A report also notes that the total beverage alcohol consumption rate has historically been growing in tandem with the number of consumers reaching the legal drinking age. Over the next ten years the growth of legal drinking age consumers will drop from the current rate of 1.2% to 0.9%, and the GF&A report forecasts the total beverage alcohol consumption rate will fall as well.
The full GFA reports are available at gfawine.com.
