The challenge in the wine industry — and, we suspect — every other industry is that “everyone – buyers and sellers alike – are tentatively trying to
navigate their own way through a landscape with little forward visibility.”
That phrase comes from Ciatti, the global wine and grape brokers, which cites Nielsen data that off-premise domestic table/sparkling wine sales in the
US have continued strong, with sales up 17% by value in the four weeks ending
Oct. 31 versus the same period of 2019.
“Consistent statistics such as these have led to a suggestion that total wine sales in the US could be up this year by volume, with the off-premise managing to offset the on-premise’s cratering, but this is based on the assumption that this year’s off-premise OND sales will follow the traditional
trend – something that cannot be taken for granted in this, the most untraditional of years,” Ciatti says.
Ciatti adds that the pandemic appears to have sped up the trend toward online shopping. Off-repremise pricing has risen a bit, Ciatti says, but there’s a worry “Redirecting the wine into the off-premise, often with a much-reduced
price tag on the shelf, can run the risk of brand devaluation in the longer term.”
Ciatti estimates “current Cabernet inventory is approximately half what it was in December 2019, while the respective inventories of Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Zinfandel are also significantly less than they were to varying extents.”
Ciatti said it continues to expect the 2020 harvest to total about 3.4 million tons.