European Union Lurches Towards Prohibition
A crunch meeting of the European Parliament could cast the terrible shadow of temperance across Europe. (Wine-Searcher)
Young people are buying less wine, but the industry keeps marketing to aging boomers
During the pandemic, consumers realized they could enjoy restaurant-quality wine at retail prices. Overall wine sales may have declined 2% last year, while sales of spirits increased. (Washington Post, citing Silicon Valley Bank wine report).
How much did wineries make in 2021?
Total sales at premium wineries was strong, with more cases were sold in 2020 to make up for lost revenue per case, so total sales growth for 2020 was essentially flat at minus 0.6%. Profitability was surprisingly strong in 2020 due to staff reductions in customer-facing jobs from COVID, reduced harvest and winemaking costs from fires and smoke, and lower overhead allocations. In addition, many wineries availed themselves of Paycheck Protection Program loans in 2020, which were forgiven both in 2020 and 2021. SVB on Wine)