Wine Consumption Map of the U.S.

Well, Keith, though I'm a certified wino, I do live within walking distance of 3 craft breweries - Russian River Brewing Co. among them. And if you're a beeraholic, you know that one!

Indeed! Being within walking distance of RRBC would certainly boost the market value of your home among the beery-eyed! And word-on-the-street has been that Moonlight's opening a taproom up there as well? I'd say Santa Rosa is representing per capitawise!

Well, both. Kinda like the chicken or the egg thing. But, yeah, a sophisticated marketplace/consumer base is dependent on and interactive with a more diverse selection of wines.

And now I'm struggling again. Maybe this is why I'm having a hard time - I don't think a sophisticated marketplace necessarily means more wine consumption. We could name tons of small/rural locations in France and Italy that do not have a diverse selection of wines but have significant per capita wine consumption. Having been to NH State Liquor stores 100s of times I just don't think that "sophicstication" is driving consumption there.

Well, both. Kinda like the chicken or the egg thing. But, yeah, a sophisticated marketplace/consumer base is dependent on and interactive with a more diverse selection of wines.

And now I'm struggling again. Maybe this is why I'm having a hard time - I don't think a sophisticated marketplace necessarily means more wine consumption. We could name tons of small/rural locations in France and Italy that do not have a diverse selection of wines but have significant per capita wine consumption. Having been to NH State Liquor stores 100s of times I just don't think that "sophicstication" is driving consumption there.

The difference is that we're talking about the United States, not France or Italy, Tom.

Wine is still not necessarily a part of our culture, as it historically has been in those places (although even that is changing right now.) A great many people in this country do not drink any form of alcoholic beverages (it's usually religious, but could be cultural as well; and there are those people who don't have the wherewithal to resist abuse so have to avoid entirely, of course). A great many----still----do not consider wine an everyday beverage of choice. And a great many places do not offer very good wines to entice people to become wine drinkers.

As to 'sophistication driving consumption'...I'm sorry, but it's pretty obvious that if you put out a more varied selection of attractive products, well marketed and advertised correctly, you're going to spark interest and stimulate purchasing.

Having worked a great deal of my life in retail and marketing and promotion, I can tell you this: you put a key display of a new product in front of people, or you amass an impressive bank of products, you're going to stimulate sales.

The average buyer is hugely responsive to shelf placement, display location and size, pricing, promotions, tie-ins, couponing and all those things. And though you probably don't think so, and would probably deny it, you're being affected by it too.

Hoke,

Thanks for the thoughtful replies. We're just going to disagree on this one.

I think this is all about demographics, economics and, as you said in your first paragraph (which I totally agree with!!) - culture. I don't think it has anything to do with marketing, the three Ps and the sophistication of the marketplace.

People in NH apparantly consume more wine per capita than any other state because of economics, demographics and cultural/religious attitudes about wine not the sophisticated marketing of the NH State Liquor stores. I see people buy cases of white zin there all the time.

Marketing may (no, does) impact what I buy (not question!) but it aboslutely does NOT impact how many gallons of wine I drink per year. A rich guy who only drinks First Growths and a poor guy who only drinks Cotes du Rhone may consume the same number of gallons per year.

I have a son who just finished college in Maine and one in college in Vermont so I'm in MH state liquor stores on I-95, I-93 and Route 3 every week. I'll be going to two lacrosse games this week in Vermont and 'll do more research and report back. I'm just struggling with the idea that marketing/sophistication drives consumption. It certainly drives how much you spend but I think other things have far more impact on whether you buy any wine (like educational level and household income - and, as you said, cultural attitudes about alcohol).

Party like a free-stater! New Hampshire rocks!

Tom: okay, agreeing to disagree is fine. I still think the problem is not with my point, but that I'm not explaining it very well.

Let me try it a different way:

Many years ago I left a corporate executive position in a big city to go to a small town to design/build/create a top-of-the-line beverage store in an area that was considered moribund and backwards.

The stores that existed were the very old-fashioned "pint and half pint" stores, mostly selling cases of beer and some whiskey and maybe, just maybe, a rack or two of predictable, everyday, ordinary wines. 33 of those in the wet county area.

We took over one of the stores to get "grandfathered" for a license, tore it down and built a huge, expansive, brightly lit, sparkling clean and meticulously maintained state-of-the-art store. Instead of a dim, cramped little building, this was more like a big grocery or department store, very inviting from the street and very welcoming once you came inside. Some wood tones, some carpeting, lay down wine racks...you get the picture.

My rule was simple: if it was legal in the state to sell it, we had it in stock. Period. And we went to distributors and aggressively pursued them bringing in new items that I knew would be popular, even to the point of guaranteeing to buy whole shipments if their overall sales were slow.

Took out full page newspaper ads with special prices, bragging about our great selection, which no other store had done before. Trained our people and always had someone in the store that could talk intelligently about wine and beer and spirits. Sponsored tasting groups. Held dinners. Did things like setting up two Ferraris in the middle of the sales floor with all kinds of luxury wines and spirits and gift ideas around them, letting people sit in the car---the only time they'd ever be able to say they sat in a Ferrari.

The result of all this? Our sales boomed from day one and just kept getting better. Not only did we pull from our competitors, but we drove up the sales for the entire area, pulling people in from up to one hundred miles away...because we were flashy and loud, sure; but primarily because we said over and over and over again that we had the best selection in the state.

The other upshot was the dollar-per-bottle sales figure shot up much higher, right along with consumption totals. When I increased ads and displays on wines significantly....wine sales overall increased significantly. When I did the same with beer, beer sales volume and profits went through the roof.

That's what I mean by sophisticated techniques driving the market: have more wines and beers available, and present them in ways to make them attractive,alluring and an "affordable luxury", and you will increase consumption.

Having successfully attracted the customers to the store I worked very hard at encouraging them to constantly try new things and to become more adventurous. I cultivated their appetites. The results? Both volume (consumption) and money spent continued to increase. People were drinking more wine more often, incorporating it into their lifestyles, and inducing their friends to do likewise.

So that's a better description of what I was trying to say.

Now if New Hampshire didn't have those stores on the major highways at the border (going in and out of the state from their prime source of Mass.); if those stores weren't there and you could find only small, poorly located, dreary little stores with limited selections and people that didn't particularly know or care about what they had on sale...would the sales in New Hampshire, and the consumption, be anywhere near what it is?

Hoke,

One more from me and then I’ll stop.

I totally understand your example but I just don’t agree that this is a major driver in all of this. That’s really my point.

Your wine shop certainly increased brand share but did it really change the market in the area or did it simply take away sales from other stores (even if those sales were plonk)? I’d bet some of your share increase was at the expense of others and not new growth to the market. If someone is going to drive 100 miles to come to your store that person is probably a wine geek and already buying wine.

I used to drive 108 miles (I just looked that up on MapQuest) to a wine shop in Northampton, MA 6-8 times per year. I liked the shop, the selection, price and one or two of the wine guys. I also enjoyed the ride. This didn’t create new demand or consumption it just shifted my purchasing from the Boston area shops that I more regularly visited. So, their sophisticated marketing had zero impact on the total bottles of wine I buy or consume in a year.

I think we’re probably giving too much credit to the NH State Liquor Stores. Have you ever been in one? They are definitely not anything special and I would never use the word “sophisticated” to describe anything they do. They do sell a fair amount of wine to folks from out of state (in my unscientific study of license plates in the parking lots) in the stores on the Massachusetts border on I-93, I-95 and Route 3 and I’d bet you a bottle of wine that those sales are reflected in the consumption data (for NH!!) and so the subject article is probably slightly flawed.

Again, at a State level I just think that demographics, economics, cultural attitudes about alcohol, etc. have far more impact on gallons of wine consumed per year per person than sophisticated marketing.

My son’s lacrosse game in Vermont tonight was canceled due to a flooded field so I can’t do any research in the NH State Liquor Stores today. I’m done.

I think that Sam Platt and I can claim to have raised Indiana's ranking by at least 4 ordinal places.

Mark Lipton

But I've probably offset most of that gain. You guys obviously have a lot of slack in the line now.

Bruce K.:

Exactly right. I live in MD and I'd guess that 98 percent of the wine I buy in person in a store (as opposed to online or at wineries) is in DC, and at least half of that is at MacArthur.

I drive 800 miles RT to go to MacArthur (well, we do visit our daughter there in DC too).

I drive 800 miles RT to go to MacArthur (well, we do visit our daughter there in DC too).

Well done. I'm a firm believer in proper placement of daughters. One of mine is currently in NoLa (always worth visiting though wine is irrelevant to this equation) and the other is in Walla Walla.

I think that Sam Platt and I can claim to have raised Indiana's ranking by at least 4 ordinal places.

Mark Lipton

But I've probably offset most of that gain. You guys obviously have a lot of slack in the line now.

When you've got slack to pull, who better to call than some slackers?

Mark Lipton

[James Roscoe]

Bruce and Dan, the most important thing about your daughters are to get them in the right industry! My oldest works for a major wine distributor! Oh yeas, she is paying off some college debts "in kind"!

I think that Sam Platt and I can claim to have raised Indiana's ranking by at least 4 ordinal places.

One medium size off-line should improve our states standing at least a couple of places. Get Winger off the wagon, Ryan back from South Dakota and we could challenge for a position in the top ten!

I agree completely about placement of daughters. Although neither of ours is in the wine industry, the other is in western Michigan. We drive out there with a full load of stuff, mostly for the grandchildren, unload and head up to the Traverse City wine region where we reload. It's a lot of driving but the long term benefits are considerable.

And you got to love Delaware, especially on the shore, where Maryland shore goers flock to purchase tax free wine. I know I'm on just a "few" security cameras in Delaware during beach season!

Drew

In my probably flawed opinion, I think this has been overthought. To me, this is reasonably easy. I don't think sophistication or selection or culture has all that much to do with it. The rankings have nothing whatsoever to do with actual consumption but rather they track sales per capita. Both DC and NH have fairly low populations and relatively high sales. Both places have significant price advantages over neighboring jurisdictions and lots of tourists and others "just passing through." NH has no sales tax and relatively low prices so many believe their prices are a bargain, especially compared to MA. I know they are lots cheaper than VA and I always buy a mixed case or so every time I am there. And living in Northern VA, I routinely purchase wine in DC...mostly at Calvert Woodley, or MacArthur's. Prices are simply better in DC than in NOVA. I think this is all about low prices increasing sales from nonresidents which then are divided amongst low populations.... yielding big per capita numbers.

Best wishes,
Glenn

In my probably flawed opinion, I think this has been overthought. To me, this is reasonably easy. I don't think sophistication or selection or culture has all that much to do with it. The rankings have nothing whatsoever to do with actual consumption but rather they track sales per capita. Both DC and NH have fairly low populations and relatively high sales. Both places have significant price advantages over neighboring jurisdictions and lots of tourists and others "just passing through." NH has no sales tax and relatively low prices so many believe their prices are a bargain, especially compared to MA. I know they are lots cheaper than VA and I always buy a mixed case or so every time I am there. And living in Northern VA, I routinely purchase wine in DC...mostly at Calvert Woodley, or MacArthur's. Prices are simply better in DC than in NOVA. I think this is all about low prices increasing sales from nonresidents which then are divided amongst low populations.... yielding big per capita numbers.

Best wishes,
Glenn

Glenn,

No major disagreement here but economics and demographics are clearly part of your analysis here whether you used those two words or not.