Sales for Moscato wine in the United States rose more than 25 percent in 2012, notes Modesto, Calif.-based Gallo Family Vineyards, citing Chicago-based Information Resources Inc.’s total 2011 year-end January 2013 sales for total food and drug store retailers. The wine varietal has boosted overall wine sales and brought new consumers into the category, it says. To celebrate the excitement around this wine varietal, Gallo Family Vineyards will throw a national Twitter party in honor of National Moscato Day on May 9.
Wine sales in the United States from all production sources increased 2 percent from the previous year to a new record of 360.1 million 9-liter cases with an estimated retail value of $34.6 billion, according to Wine Industry Consultant Jon Fredrikson of Gomberg, Fredrikson & Associates, Woodside, Calif. Of this total, almost two-thirds or 207.7 million cases of California wine account for a 58 percent share of U.S. wine sales with an estimated retail value of $22 billion, he says. Including exports, California wine shipments to all markets in the United States and abroad reached 250.2 million cases in 2012, he says.
“It can be intimidating to walk down that wine aisle,” says Danny Brager, vice president of beverage alcohol for Nielsen, New York. “There are so many items, sometimes it’s difficult to navigate down the aisle because you just see this sea of bottles.”
During the 52 weeks ending Nov. 10, 2012, the sparkling wine category increased 4.6 percent in dollar sales, said Danny Brager, vice president of beverage and alcohol for Chicago-based market research firm Nielsen, in a Dec. 31 blog post.