DAN'S WINE BLOG- USA EDITION

Friday, May 19, 2023

?Today we are going to have a bit of a look at that crazy, weird, bizarre place called the “Good Old US of A”.?The American Association of Wine Economist (AAWE) is a brilliant source for stats on what is happening wine wise in the USA.

?Here are some of their latest figures. Although most of these charts cover different years to each other, they are the most recent available and these figures do not tend to change very rapidly.

?Starting with where the USA stands in the world of wine production, at number four with twice the volume that Australia produces. Chart 1 is very interesting in its own right. It ranks the wine producing countries of the world with some fascinating and unexpected inclusions such as Madagascar, Ethiopia and Panama – who knew they made wine there??

?Next, Chart 2 shows whether countries produce more wine than they consume per head of population and vice versa. As you can see we (Australia) produce heaps more than what we consume per person, whereas the USA is near as damn it balanced – with production just a smidge under consumption per head.

?Despite this balance, the USA is the third largest importer of bulk wine, whilst Australia surprisingly is fifth, importing one-third the value of wine that the USA does (refer to Chart 3). The significant values of bulk wine imports around the globe go to reinforce the key role that the World Bulk Wine Exhibition held in Amsterdam each November plays in making the bulk wine market work efficiently and offering great value.

?Another interesting fact from AAWE is that since 2016 the USA has been importing more New Zealand wine than Australian wine – Shame on us!!!!

?On the other side of the coin, below are the USA’s major wine export destinations and the value change over the four-year period (refer to Chart 4). It is interesting to note that whilst Brexit has had no impact on UK trade, according to the UK government, US wine sales to the UK have plummeted by one-third of their value. One suspects that there are two reasons for this, firstly that prior to Brexit wine imported into the UK could seamlessly be sold into any country in the EU, and secondly with the UK economy in virtual free-fall the Poms are drinking less wine overall.

?Next we go on with the USA per capita wine consumption by state, followed by a chart that shows the relationship between wine consumption and gun related deaths per 100,000 people. (Refer to Charts 5 & 6)

?So as can be clearly seen, the lowest gun mortality rates are in those states which have the larger per capita wine consumption – ipso facto, wine drinking civilises people. The ‘take away” from this data is that we need to get more Americans drinking wine in order to reduce the gun mortality rate – especially in the lower consumption states.

?Finally, although wine is now made in all 50 states (Yep, including Alaska and Hawaii), California is still the “Biggie”. So here are some stats – firstly the makeup of red wine production:

?Given the figures above in Chart 7, it is fair to say that California is “Cabernet-centric” based on the acreage planted. So much so, that even in recent times the state’s new plantings (refer to Chart 8) are still being “Cabernet-centric” with no sign that this will abate any time soon. While there are few daring souls such as Randall Graham (Bonny Doon) planting exiting new emerging varieties, most growers are simply planting more Cabernet, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. I suspect this will eventually become an issue for them, in trying to sell yet another Cabernet to the wine world.

?Well this has been a quick snapshot at wine in the USA thanks to the valuable information from AAWE.?Have a great week and always #chooseaustralianwine and whenever possible try and enjoy #emergingvarieties. Cheers, Dan T.