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METRICS August 2018 WINES&VINES 13 W armer weather didn't c o o l d i r e c t - t o - c o n - sumer (DtC) shipments in June. The value rose 12% ver- sus a year ago to $132 million, Wines Vines Analytics/ShipCom- pliant by Sovos reported. This exceeded growth in case volumes, which rose just 7% to 363,567. Reflecting the onset of summer temperatures, June was the weak- est month since January in terms of both value and volumes. Sonoma County wineries are on par with Napa when it comes to DtC shipments, dispatching 1,717,780 cases over the past year. The county's tally is just 11,507 cases short of Napa, which leads the nation in terms of DtC shipments. Sonoma, however, lags far behind its neighbor in value of shipments, which total $611 mil- lion or less than half that of Napa's shipments. While the average price of a Napa bottle is $64.01, the average bottle from Sonoma is worth $29.66. The latest 12 months saw So- noma's average bottle price inch down 1%. Among the region's top varietals, Zinfandel alone bucked the trend with a 4% increase from a year ago to $27.67 a bottle. Pinot Noir, the region's most valu- able DtC varietal, held its own at $47.78 a bottle, as did third-place Chardonnay at $28.35 a bottle. Cabernet Sauvignon and red blends saw their average bottle prices fall 3%, while sparkling wine — a tiny component of DtC shipments — took the biggest hit, with the average bottle shipped worth 6% less than a year ago at $28.16. While vintners in Sonoma are taking advantage of the channel, they're serving a markedly dif- ferent consumer than their coun- terparts in Napa – ones receiving wines that are more affordable and complement rather than defer to Cabernet Sauvignon. Together, however, the two coun- ties represent 56% of DtC ship- ments in a channel meeting a broadening range of tastes and budgets. —Peter Mitham Direct to Consumer O ff-premise sales through multiple-outlet and con- venience stores in the four weeks ended June 17 totaled $651 million, market research firm IRI reported. This was up more than 1% versus a year earlier. The growth compared favorably to case volumes, which were flat at 8.3 million. Sales in the latest 52 weeks were 2% higher than a year earlier at $8.9 billion. Domestic sparkling wine sales continued to experience the strongest growth off-premise, in- creasing 2% in the month and 3% in the year. Domestic table wine sales rose just 1% in the month and 2% for the year. Consistent with the overall market, sales of domestic table and sparkling wines in glass pack- aging rose 2% in the latest 52 weeks. The real growth at off-premise occurred in boxed table wines and canned sparkling wines, which saw sales rise 7% and 43%, re- spectively. The growth in box wines meant $68 million in ad- ditional sales for a category that now represents close to 15% of domestic table wine sales. Box wine sales topped $1 billion in the latest 52 weeks. Canned sparkling wines are a much smaller segment of the mar- ket, totaling less than $3 million in the latest 52 weeks, or about a half per cent of domestic sparkling wine sales. Still, at 43% the growth is exceptional. The great- est growth was for 295 ml cans, followed by four-packs of 250 ml cans, a segment that, conversely, saw sales of single cans drop by a third — the only segment of canned sparkling wines to decline in the period. —Peter Mitham Source: , Wines Vines Analytics. Table and sparkling wine sales in multiple-outlet and convenience stores; 52 weeks ended June 17, 2018. OFF-PREMISE SALES BY PACKAGE TYPE $ Millions 0 $2,000 $4,000 $6,000 $8,000 Table Wine (bottles) Table Wine (boxes) Sparkling Wine (bottles) Sparkling Wine (cans) n 2018 n 2017 $7,341M $7,218M Source: Wines Vines Analytics/ShipCompliant by Sovos. 12 months ended June 2018. DTC SHIPMENTS FROM SONOMA COUNTY WINERIES $ Millions 0 $50 $100 $150 $200 Pinot Noir Cabernet Sauvignon Chardonnay Zinfandel Red Blends Sparkling All Others Source: Wines Vines Analytics/ShipCompliant by Sovos. 12 months ended June 2018. DTC SHIPMENTS FROM SONOMA COUNTY WINERIES, AVERAGE BOTTLE PRICE 0 $10 $20 $30 $40 $50 Pinot Noir Cabernet Sauvignon Chardonnay Zinfandel Red Blends Sparkling All Others Off Premise Off-Premise Sales Rise 1%, Driven by Non-Glass Packaging DtC Rises 12% in June as Sonoma Gains Popularity