CHICAGO -- Affordable wines with accessible and appealing flavor profiles are driving the wine industry overall, according to Technomic's Top 250 Wine Brands and its roster of the 50 Fastest Growing Wine Brands.
Diving into its database of more than 1,500 wine brands, Technomic identified the 250 wine brands leading in volume and in retail sales in 2011, as well as the 50 achieving the fastest rates of volume growth. Both rosters are included in Technomic's soon-to-be-released 2012 WineTAB report.
As a group, the Top 250 Wine Brands grew 4.8% in 2011, slightly outpacing the growth rate of total wine, and accounted for 83.7% of the 329.3 million nine-liter cases of wine market. As expected, domestic table wines dominated the list. Among imported table wines, Italian wines have the most entries, followed by wines from Australia. Ten domestic sparklers made the list, along with five Italians and two French. Five fruit wines and five sakes appear on the Top 250, indicating that those segments are gaining traction with consumers.
Looking at the top 10 brands, Franzia Winetaps, producers of wines in box packaging featuring taps, maintained its No. 1 ranking with 25 million nine-liter cases. Barefoot Cellars moved into the No. 2 slot on a 30% increase in 2011; the brand recorded 13 million nine-liter cases. Five of the top 10 brands reside in the E & J Gallo Winery portfolio. In terms of retail sales, the top five brands are Carlo Rossi, Barefoot Cellars, Beringer, Yellow Tail and Sutter Home.
Technomic identified the 50 Fastest Growing Wine Brands by volume, which reveals emerging trends in wine. The list is dominated by table wines, although two Sangrias and three sparklers also show up. E & J Gallo's Apothic, a blend, tops the list with a 566.7% increase, followed by the Italian prosecco La Marca with a 500% gain. Daily's, the line of wine-based cocktails, enjoyed a 223.1% increase, while two attractively priced table wines--Cupcake Vineyards and William Hill--both logged triple-digit expansion rates.
"These volume and sales rankings indicate that today's wine consumers favor affordably priced wines," said Donna Hood Crecca, senior director of Technomic Adult Beverage Resource Group. "What's more, the fast pace of growth for Apothic shows the growing appeal of blends to today's consumer. The number of Italian sparklers and strong performance of La Marca showcases that these attractively priced wines are striking the right chord, as well. Barefoot's double-digit volume gain speaks to wine drinkers embracing brands that fit their casual lifestyles."
The 2012 WineTAB Report from Technomic's Adult Beverage Resource Group provides in-depth national volume and sales information on the wine category, brands and companies with expert analysis and forecasting.
Chicago-based Technomic provides studies and ongoing research on all aspects of the food industry.
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