Whether its wine spritzers, mimosas, crisp whites, sweet pinks or full-bodied reds, there’s no “w[h]ining” about the multitude of flavors and options in the $12.8 billion wine category, which grew 11.4 percent in multi-outlets and convenience stores for the 52 weeks ending Nov. 29, 2020, according to data from Information Resources Inc. (IRI), Chicago. Sparkling wines/Champagne saw year-over-year (YoY) growth of 28.7 percent and sales of $1.6 billion, IRI data reports.
Carolyn Lemoine, senior project director for New York-based Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC), notes that the U.S. wine market for domestic and imported wines had been flattening out the past several years, culminating in a slight downturn in volume in 2019.