U.S. Wine Sales in 2007

Which varietals were most popular in 2007 and what trends were discovered?

According to The Nielsen Company, U. S. consumers purchased 111,584,589 cases of wine in 2007. That's 4.4 750ml bottles of wine per person in the U.S., including infants, infirm, and elderly. The U.S. has become a nation of wine lovers.

We looked at those purchases by sector and uncovered some interesting facts:

• The largest sector of wine purchases was in the $0-2.99 category. Could Two-buck Chuck be responsible for this surprising figure? In any case, we are seeing a continual rise in quality in the lowest-price wines.
• 30% of all wine sold in the U.S. was imported. The biggest importer by volume was Australia. The biggest importer by value was Italy. Surprised? We were.
• Both France and Chile only garnered around 7% each of the import market.
• As expected, Chardonnay topped the list as the most popular wine in America. Merlot, the next contender, achieved around 50% of the Chardonnay volume. Cabernet Sauvignon was slightly lower in volume.
• Another surprise was the meteoric rise of Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio. This is the new White Zinfandel. Over 7 million cases of Pinot Grigio were sold compared to 22 million cases of Chardonnay and around 12 million cases of Merlot. Pinot Grigio is more than half as popular as Merlot among U.S. consumers.
• Varietal wines outsold generics by almost 3 to 1. This reflects an increasingly savvy American consumer who not only knows what Pinot Noir is, but who may even know how to pronounce it.