Wine consumers: we’re not normal, but we’re sexy

According to an article in Tuesday’s Wine Industry Report from Fine Wine Press, “If you’ve had wine in the last seven days and if you bought a bottle of wine priced at over $15 in the last three months, if you have more than 18 bottles in your house at any given moment, and if you’ve tried a bottle of New Zealand wine in the last year, YOU ARE NOT A NORMAL WINE CONSUMER.”

Wow. I always knew I wasn’t quite normal. It’s nice to finally know why.

And yet, should wine producers be alarmed that more people aren’t normal? Not really. Leslie Joseph, vice president of consumer research and consumer affairs for Constellation Wines U.S. and lead researcher for Project Genome, has it all figured out:

When it comes to selling more wine, the best strategy is to enjoy the “sexy” segments (which according to Project Genome include the “Enthusiast”, the “Image Seeker” and the “Savvy Shopper”).

These days, I can surely tell you that I’m keen on value, and I shop for my wine accordingly. And as a blogger about wine, the term enthusiast goes without saying. I just plain love the sensual aspects of wine.

But to be seen with wine? To show off my vast steel-encased triple-padlocked bought-it-all-at-once collection? No, no: that’s where style and substance don’t mix. I’d rather just drink it. So if there’s a wine rap sheet on me in some byzantine bureaucratic bunker somewhere, I guess two out of three counts of sexy against me ain’t bad.

It’s better than being normal.

Ms. Joseph also advises the wine industry to focus on the “traditionalist” fundamentals, too. Her Project Genome research has come up with the following additional facts:

Traditionalists: make up 16% of consumers and represent 13% of profits
Satisfied Sippers: represent 14% of consumers and 7% of profits, and
Overwhelmed: consumers make up 23% of consumers and 11% of profits

Ms. Joseph shared these findings and more with industry leaders at the 11th annual Unified Symposium in Sacramento, California on January 25.

My conclusion? If everyone else was as sexy as I am, wine producers and marketers would be ultramegafilthy rich and you’d need to make the Forbes 500 list just to register on winebid.com. But I think there’s plenty of sexiness to go around. I think I’ll drink another daily dose of that healthful red sexy tonic this evening.

Source: The Wine Industry Report
Also see Constellation Wines U.S.

~winehiker

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