March 23 2008
The increase in wine consumption in the U.S. is great for everybody; a rising tide raises all ships, right? It could, however, be better.
How so, you ask? Well, for starters, it would seem that most of the growth is from new customer acquisition, which is fantastic. In the parlance of Wine Market Council research, new consumers are coming in as “Core” consumers—those that drink wine at least once a week.
No doubt, the increase in wine consumption in the U.S. is tied to Generation Y and no doubt, it is linked to the absolute boom we have seen over the last decade in terms of fine dining and Chefs as celebrities.
I grew up watching the Frugal Gourmet and Yan Can Cook on PBS and now there are whole channels dedicated to food. Mario Batali, amongst many, is ubiquitious, leading to a more sophisticated food culture.
New customers and a more sophisticated culture are contributing to the wine bottom line.
However, after reading an article in Wine & Spirits magazine (summary here) and watching Diners, Drive-in’s and Dives on a perpetual loop on the Food Network, I am beginning to re-think the culture of wine.
Instead of new customer acquisition the way we are seeing it, the low hanging fruit, what about conversion of those less inclined to wine? New business development, if you will.
Perhaps I am biased because if I were ever going to open up a restaurant (I am not masochistic enough to actually do that) I would open up a joint. It seems much more interesting to open up something that can become a local institution than to try to hit the next wave for five years of boom.
That said, it seems like our joints, diners, drive-in’s and dives never have a wine list that is worth a damn.
If I had one wish, it would be that every distributor sales rep. in the country would pick out five joints in their territory, the local institutions, the places that give our cities a sense of place and soul, and work diligently to build a quality wine list at these cultural gems citing all of the research about wine consumption in the U.S.
Selling wine to fine dining establishments is great, but it is competitive and there is only so much room for so many bottles of wine at a finite number of places where you would expect to sell wine. However, by farming the acres of diamonds, by building the bottom up, the places where you do not expect to see a nice, affordable bottle of wine, the wine industry can create cultural change and a culture of wine for good, for the long haul.
Anything else is a cyclical trend.
Posted in, Wine: A Business Doing Pleasure. Permalink | Comments (9) |
Hey Tish,
Thanks for the comment. I’m talking joints—pizza places, dives the whole spectrum of places where you drink when you eat. They already serve wine, but it’s all plonk. I think it might actually be cool to have a killer wine list and serve it in tumblers paisano-style.
Might as well keep it real, right?
All the best,
Have you found any box wines that you think would work as house pours? Killer Juice Cab is the one that I have had recently that stuck out as better than expected. A lot better. Maybe the whole green thing will make these sorts of wines a viable way for diners to upgrade simply by swapping plonkish bulk wine for better bulk wine?...
Hey Tish,
I have not had the Killer Juice, though I think I saw a mention of it in WE.
Frankly, I’d like to see nice, affordable bottles go on the list, but I guess by the glass pours are a good place to start, too.
We’re working up from a zero baseline, so incremental growth is good growth. 
Jeff
In theory, that is a brilliant plan…..in practice, in a competitive environment like Chicago, the joints get dominated by SWS and their ilk. Southern comes in with their spirits guys, and holds the joint owners hostage for the wine business, practically giving it away because they are already making their margins on vodka.
It is much easier for said joint owners to just cave in and have southern take care of their wine list including printing, maintenance and inventory.
It takes hard work from some caring wine sales professionals, and at least a marginal interest in quality wine from the joint owner.
sigh…..
Amazing timing on the reading/posting of this. I am currently in the process of trying to buy a “joint” with the sole purpose of doing exactly what you’ve stated. My (our) generation wants pizza/bar food but wants micro brews and fine wine. I, for one, am trying to make this happen. Wish me luck!!
Jason,
That’s great! Good timing. In my opinion, you want to go more towards wine bar/tapa’s instead of the Gastropub vibe, but it sounds like you have a clear vision—as long as it’s a joint, I’m all good.
Thanks for stopping by the site.
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This idea makes all the sense in the world, but I wonder about practicality… Do you mean “joints” that already serve wine/beer/liquor? If they don’t, they would have to get a liquor license, which could be an expensive headache. If they do alrady have a license, do they have decent wine glasses? If not, that’s something more to buy and store… If they do, chances are the glasses are thicker than Coke bottles.
I do agree with you in principle, though, and would love to see downhome pizza parlors in particular serve better reds. By they way, whatever happend to the push Fred Franzia made a year or two back to get restaurants to sell his wines for $10/bottle…
FYI, isn’t there a chain in the Miami area, called Miami Subs, that has gained some notoriety for selling Dom Perignon? NOt that this is the idea you are after…. that reeks of postmodern snobbery.