Wine Consumption Map of the U.S.

[Jenise]

New Hampshire? Really?

http://www.businessinsider.com/wine-consumption-map-united-states-2014-3

You bet! Hick!

[Jenise]

You bet! Hick!

Wait. Other than Carl, that's not New Hampshire folks drinking that much wine.

It's all those people from Massachussetts going up there every weekend and holiday and binge drinking that drive up the stats. That's why the busiest stores in New Hampshire for beverages are the two on the way in and out the main road from Massachussetts.

[Jenise]

Wait. Other than Carl, that's not New Hampshire folks drinking that much wine.

It's all those people from Massachussetts going up there every weekend and holiday and binge drinking that drive up the stats. That's why the busiest stores in New Hampshire for beverages are the two on the way in and out the main road from Massachussetts.

Okay, Carl and Paul. Paul does his bit too, you know. But you have a point--if it's based just on bottles purchased, well I remember the parking lot around the liquor store that was essentially on the freeway in New Hampshire just before we got into Massachusetts. It's a real WTF kind of thing for us west coast shoppers to stumble over!

If you looked at a similar beer consumption map, I wonder what the correlations would be?

Jenise wrote:
“…. if it's based just on bottles purchased.

The Business Insider, compiled data gathered by the Beverage Information Group, which was based on sales and not actual consumption.

Salute

[Jenise]

If you looked at a similar beer consumption map, I wonder what the correlations would be?

Texas would have been MUCH higher on the list, for one!

Agree re New Hampshire (those are some big stores re on the borders) , and same applies to DC. The bigger wines stores in DC are attractive to VA and especially MD residents. Plus a few (Macarthurs, etc) are big shippers.

Agree re New Hampshire (those are some big stores re on the borders) , and same applies to DC. The bigger wines stores in DC are attractive to VA and especially MD residents. Plus a few (Macarthurs, etc) are big shippers.

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.

If you looked at a similar beer consumption map, I wonder what the correlations would be?

On the production side for beer (as opposed to the consumption side winewise) it appears that Vermont and New Hampshire aren't bad places to be for either beer production or wine consumption per capita (with honorable mentions for Maine and Oregon) . . .

The Geography of Craft Beer

Per capita consumption for beer from the Beer Institute also ranks New Hampshire and Vermont quite high. I'm inclined to agree with the line of thinking above that having a low population state that attracts significant tourism numbers will likely see inflated consumption per capita--what's interesting to me is that Vermont also ranks first the nation in the number of craft breweries per capita.

Be a bit more interesting if this was done Countywide instead of Statewide. I am sure Nevada would be all skewed to Las Vegas and Reno, Colorado to Denver and ski resorts, etc. etc.

Not only are the stores state owned, they also have a pretty good selection and NO SALES TAX to sweeten the deal. I guess most of you knew that, but if not, you do now. I would be happy with a modest 7% sales tax off of the two stores on the Mass/NH state line. They have great prices on Champagnes every time we've been there.

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!

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

Mark Lipton

Not only are the stores state owned

Wine and Brew are not confined to the state stores. They can be sold almost anywhere. There are excellent wine shops in all the major markets. That said, the big state stores on the Interstates do sell a huge amount of wine to passers through.

Its a demographic/economic thing. There's no big cities in NH (like Boston, Hartford, NYC, etc.) and its GDP/capita is high for a US state so do the math. Didn't NH also show up near the top in motorcycles per capita? Same thing.

Also, I know many MA. people who have their wine shipped from CA. wineries to locations in NH. Lots of wealthy folks in New England with vacation places in NH.

NH in top 10-15 states in personal income per capita.

As previously mentioned, NH State Liquor Stores at borders on all major highways offer good deals and I'm sure the sales to Massachusetts people are counted in NH numbers in this map.

[Robin Garr]

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

I've been doing my best to pull Kentucky out of the cellar, but to no avail.

(Actually, I think Kentucky's lowly ranking illustrates the lack of granularity of a state-by-state analysis. Wine access in Louisville is good to excellent; in Lexington and Northern Kentucky it's very good. Outside that urban triangle, there's not much wine sold at all, so the state's average comes up light. I'll cry all the way to any of the dozen very good wine shops that I can count within a 15-minute drive from my house.

I came to DC in 1972 and now I know why. BTW, going to New Hampshire next week. In there a theme here?

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

I've been doing my best to pull Kentucky out of the cellar, but to no avail.

(Actually, I think Kentucky's lowly ranking illustrates the lack of granularity of a state-by-state analysis. Wine access in Louisville is good to excellent; in Lexington and Northern Kentucky it's very good. Outside that urban triangle, there's not much wine sold at all, so the state's average comes up light. I'll cry all the way to any of the dozen very good wine shops that I can count within a 15-minute drive from my house.

It's similar to the political maps across the country, Robin. You look at California---or my latest home state, Oregon---and you see a clear political lean in a certain direction. But you take that granular look, and it is considerably different.

Just in terms of beverage alcohol here in Oregon, we have one of the most sophisticated drinking towns in the country, Portland. Fine wines, spirits (given the oddities and encumbrances of the state control system, even), cocktail culture, beer, sake, you name it; these all abound in Portland. Portland is considered on par, or superior to, many larger and more affluent cities. Get a few miles out side the city limits and that abundance drops off precipitously, with only a few rare pockets of sophistication.

Even the production rule (beverage producing areas tend to be better consumption areas) doesn't apply as much as you might think, curiously enough.

Just in terms of beverage alcohol here in Oregon, we have one of the most sophisticated drinking towns in the country, Portland. Fine wines, spirits (given the oddities and encumbrances of the state control system, even), cocktail culture, beer, sake, you name it; these all abound in Portland. Portland is considered on par, or superior to, many larger and more affluent cities. Get a few miles out side the city limits and that abundance drops off precipitously, with only a few rare pockets of sophistication.

Hoke,

You lost me. What does "sophistication" have to do with the subject article/consumption map?

Just in terms of beverage alcohol here in Oregon, we have one of the most sophisticated drinking towns in the country, Portland. Fine wines, spirits (given the oddities and encumbrances of the state control system, even), cocktail culture, beer, sake, you name it; these all abound in Portland. Portland is considered on par, or superior to, many larger and more affluent cities. Get a few miles out side the city limits and that abundance drops off precipitously, with only a few rare pockets of sophistication.

Hoke,

You lost me. What does "sophistication" have to do with the subject article/consumption map?

Tom, I used "sophistication" in terms of wide availability of choice, general knowledge and appreciation of the beverages, and the greater occasion to have them served in congenial surroundings.

Case in point: around here if you go into a standard supermarket---say an Albertsons---they have a very basic wine selection, mostly jug wines, box wines, 'fighting varietals' or the Yellow Tail ilk of commercial behemoths. Their wine sales are okay, but not impressive. Go to a New Seasons (our local version of an organic, local-sourced, artisanal, more-than-just-a-grocery-store) or a Whole Foods and you get a vastly different selection featuring a wider array of wine possibilities...heavy up on the locals, natch, since we're in the Willamette Valley, but abounding with French, Italian, Spanish, German, Australian, New Zealand, Washigton and Californian wines.

Put an urban, well-educated, traveled consumer in a situation like that, with greater choice, and you have more sophistication, and more overall consumption.

Contrast Portland (Oregon) to...oh, say, Klamath Falls, a backwater town crumbling along in the middle of woodlands with no particular means of support (i.e., it's poverty stricken and in the boonies and all the jobs have gone away), and you've got a couple of bars, no restaurants to speak of, and a few scatterd liquor stores that sell primarily the cheap brands...and you'll have a less "sophisticated" audience with fewer opportunities to develop an appreciation....a sophisticated appreciation...of alcoholic beverages.

Same thing in Kentucky, as Robin pointed out. There's the 'triangle' and then there's Eastern Kentucky, or far western Kentucky, where, quite frankly, your choice of recreational consumptives is more likely to offer a wider and more sophisticated range of other drugs than it will offer of alcohol.

Tom, I used "sophistication" in terms of wide availability of choice, general knowledge and appreciation of the beverages, and the greater occasion to have them served in congenial surroundings.

Got it. Thanks!

You're using sophistication to describe the marketplace not necessarily the wines per se.

Tom, I used "sophistication" in terms of wide availability of choice, general knowledge and appreciation of the beverages, and the greater occasion to have them served in congenial surroundings.

Got it. Thanks!

You're using sophistication to describe the marketplace not necessarily the wines per se.

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.