Some quick wine stuff today…

Following my last post inquiring about wine buying habits, I found the following info. (from Wine & Spirits Daily) referring to Value Spirits:

“After years of little or no growth, value brands are starting to gain share and grow at a faster rate, as seen in Nielsen numbers to October 18. Dollar sales of value spirits grew 2.4% in the 52 weeks, 3.2% in the 12 weeks and 4.3% in the four weeks.

The data showed evidence of consumers trading down from ultra-premium spirits, which lost a significant amount of share in October. The category gained 9.7% in dollar sales in the 52 weeks to October 18, 5.1% in the 12 weeks and 2.3% in the four weeks.

Growth of mid-priced brands stayed relatively the same and premium brands lagged slightly, growing 2.2% in the 52 weeks and only 1.2% in the four weeks.”

Yes Spirits are different from Wine, but I have seen much of the same of late.  People are still drinking, but they are spending less money doing it.  “Trading down” is not a phrase most wine industry professionals like to hear, but it appears to be the (sad) reality given the trying times we are in the midst of.

AND speaking of trying times, a NY icon has closed its doors.

Vintage NY was a NY ONLY wine bar/store.  It was unique in so many ways, and a pretty special place.  As a matter of fact there were at one point two such Vintage NY locations.  This past week Vintage closed its second of two locations, citing “rising rents, higher costs, thin profit margins, slow cash flow, credit (issues)”, etc.

Not much to add here.  Hope this wasn’t TOO MUCH of a DOWNER post.  Just a reality check…

Happy exciting yet affordable Wine Tasting!

WTG