{"id":13773,"date":"2014-11-19T16:06:06","date_gmt":"2014-11-19T21:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=13773"},"modified":"2014-11-19T16:06:32","modified_gmt":"2014-11-19T21:06:32","slug":"the-wine-coach-wine-drinkers-demographics-do-you-fit-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=13773","title":{"rendered":"The Wine Coach: Wine drinker’s demographics, do you fit in?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are you normal, or a ‘special’ wine consumer?<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Editor’s Note:<\/strong> Today marks the debut of Brian Gurham, who will be writing monthly on wine topics. He’s one of the region’s top experts and writers on various topics related to wine, wine appreciation and related issues. And he’s a very entertaining read. We hope you enjoy his insights.<\/em><\/p>\n

By Brian Gurnham<\/strong>, Columnist, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"BGurhhamColHed\"<\/a>Ever wonder how your wine drinking habits fit in with the \u201cnorm\u201d whatever that is?\u00a0 Here are a couple observations that might indicate if you are north of the \u201caverage\u201d American wine consumer.<\/p>\n

1 \u2013 Inspect your neighbors recycle bins on trash day.\u00a0 Do you have the greatest number of empty wine bottles of anyone?<\/p>\n

2 – When you walk into your favorite wine shop do the owners greet you as if you were on an episode of Cheers?<\/p>\n

3 \u2013 Tell stories at a party about the night you opened six different bottles of Chardonnay, looking for the one with perfect balance.\u00a0 Does everyone stare at you like you might have been exposed to Ebola?<\/p>\n

4 \u2013 When you are in the checkout line at your local wine shop with your regular ration of vino, does the person behind you ask \u201cwhere\u2019s the party?\u201d<\/p>\n

5 \u2013 Do you believe that a good cause for celebrating with wine is any day that ends with a \u201cY\u201d?<\/p>\n

If you answered yes to more than one or two, there is a good chance you are helping contribute to the growth in consumption, and average price paid, by the American wine consumer.\u00a0 A recently published report from Wine Intelligence USA can help you determine where you fit in the broad spectrum of the wine consuming public.\u00a0 The report cites an increase of 10 million wine consumers in the United States over the past two years, a nearly 40% increase.<\/p>\n

How much are people drinking?\u00a0 Per capita consumption in 2012 was estimated at 10.42 liters per capita, which equates to roughly 14 bottles (750ml) a year.\u00a0 This statistic is however, based on total United States population of nearly 318 million.\u00a0 Adjust to the 91 million wine consumers and the rate becomes 36.5 liters, 49 bottles per year, or basically a bottle a week.\u00a0 Now I don\u2019t know about you, but personally I am helping this average.\u00a0 Compare this to France where the rate is more like 4-5 bottle per week and we look like teetotalers.\u00a0 Also according to the Wine Market Council, 57% of all wine drinkers are \u201ccore\u201d drinkers, accounting for 93% of all wine consumption.\u00a0 Now I\u2019m starting to feel at home.<\/p>\n

What do you drink?\u00a0 Well somewhat to my surprise, the average price paid for a bottle of wine is under $7.\u00a0 I guess this is plausible when you look at all of the Yellow Tail, Canyon Oaks, Woodbridge, Pacific Peak, Sutter Home, Beringer and Arbor Mist wine occupying wine store shelves, but I confess I have yet to find much quaffable at under $10, proving once again the adage \u2013 don\u2019t confuse good wine with wine that sells.<\/p>\n

How old are you? I know that\u2019s none of my business, but it is of utmost importance to wine marketers. The most significant increase in wine consumers was among the Millennials \u2013 the under 35 crowd.\u00a0 While Baby Boomers still constitute the largest group, the number and average paid per bottle are both declining as age and fixed incomes catch up on us.<\/p>\n

A final observation in the report is the increasing role of craft beer and spirits adding to the mix of alcoholic alternatives.\u00a0 36 percent of regular wine drinkers now include craft beer in their repertoire.<\/p>\n

So what constitutes an average wine consumer?\u00a0 If you take data literally you would be either a Millennial or Baby Boomer, spend no more than $7 on average for a bottle of wine and drink a bottle a week.\u00a0 Chances are if you read this far in the article this is not you.\u00a0 But that\u2019s OK, some of us enjoy being in a minority, even if that minority consists of millions of other wine lovers.<\/p>\n

Cheers.<\/p>\n

Brian Gurnham is a Certified Specialist of Wine, owner of\u00a0Corkquiz.com<\/a>, teaches wine appreciation classes, and is a part time wine team member at Total Wine in Claymont, DE, \u00a0He has travelled to many of the world\u2019s most famous wine regions, most recently France\u2019s Loire Valley this past summer.<\/em><\/p>\n

Brian and his wife Lois live in Kennett Square.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are you normal, or a ‘special’ wine consumer? Editor’s Note: Today marks the debut of Brian Gurham, who will be writing monthly on wine topics. He’s one of the region’s top experts and writers on various topics related to wine, wine appreciation and related issues. And he’s a very entertaining read. We hope you enjoy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4],"tags":[5538,5537,390,306],"class_list":["post-13773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-featured","tag-consumption","tag-demographics","tag-stats","tag-wine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13773"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13774,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13773\/revisions\/13774"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}