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W i n e s & V i n e s D e C e M b e r 2 0 1 4 43 California didn't have to ship most of its DtC wines very far. That's because California was also the state receiving the most DtC shipments. The value of the 1.2 million cases shipped within California and coming in from other states was $558 million. The value change from 2013 to 2014 was 9%. Texas While Texas is no doubt a big state, it had to settle for second place as the biggest market for DtC shipments. With sales of $168 million and 339,000 cases in 2014, Texas beat out New York (No. 3) and Florida (No. 4). best new market for DtC Massachusetts Lawmakers in Boston, Mass., did the industry a big favor by finally opening the Massachusetts market to direct shipping in July. Jeff Carroll, vice presi- dent of Boulder, Colo.-based ShipCom- pliant, estimates that in just a few years Massachusetts could become a $70 mil- lion wine market. "It's an affluent, wine- drinking state," he said. A license to ship to Massachusetts will cost wineries $300, and annual renewals cost $150. With Massachusetts approving a ship- ping law, 45 states are now open to some type of direct shipping—although one of the most populous, Pennsylvania, is not. There is some hope lawmakers there may soon pass a law to let con- sumers have wine shipped directly to their homes or businesses, but there doesn't appear to be any political mo- mentum to privatize the burdensome Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board that limits retail wine sales to state- operated stores. best growth by PaCkage tyPe 0.5-Liter Aseptic Sales of these handy, portable and non- breakable cartons (see example at right) have been growing fast for a few years, and in 2014 sales increased by 26%, beating all other sizes of glass and alter- native wine packaging. The incredible uptick is from a small base, of course, since their sales represent only slightly more than 1% of sales compared to the traditional 750ml bottle. lowed by the rest of California, then Oregon and Washington. best growth by PriCe Point $20-Plus Wines in IRI's most expensive price seg- ment, $20-plus, have been the fastest growing in sales for years and main- tained that status (but barely) in 2014. The segment grew by 15% in off-prem- ise sales and 16% in volume, while the average price per bottle decreased by 27 cents. This means that consumers may be trading up, but they are doing it partly to claim relative bargain prices on high-priced wines whose prices have edged down. Still, wines at $20-plus only claim 4% market share in value. At a close second place in sales growth, the $11-$14.99 segment grew 14% in sales and 14% in volume. The lowest price category for wine was the wrong place to be in 2014—at least for domestic wine in glass bot- tles. Wines selling for less than $5 per bottle in off-premise locations experi- enced the worst sales change of any price category, according to IRI. Sales were flat for wines priced below $3.50 per bottle, but $3.50-$4.99 wines shrank by 4%. best markets California As the leading wine-producing state, and the leader in shipping wines direct, best imPort Country Italy With Australian imports shrinking at 6% in 2014, Italy is selling the most imported wines in U.S. off-premise loca- tions. Italian wine sales grew by 3% during the past 52 weeks ending Oct. 15, buoyed by the rising sales of Pro- secco and other wine types. Italy has a 6% share of the market in dollars, and its wines average a relatively high $8.14 per bottle in stores tracked by IRI. best state for winery oPenings Oregon leads winery growth outside of California More new wineries continue to open in California than anywhere else in North America, but the best states for new wineries outside of the Golden State ap- pear to be Oregon and Virginia. Based on data for the 12-month pe- riod from October 2013 through Sep- tember 2014, Napa County's 84 new wineries is the most recorded in any wine region in the United States. With 1,042 total wineries, Napa remains home to the highest number overall and accounts for almost a third of the 3,803 wineries in California. Sonoma County, Calif., has the second-highest total of 783, with 69 new wineries open there, according to the Wines Vines Analytics winery database. Elsewhere on the West Coast, Oregon had the most new wineries at 78. Most of these new wineries are located in the Northern Willamette Valley counties of Washington, Yamhill and Multnomah, near the Portland, Ore., metropolitan area. Thirty-one new wineries opened in British Columbia, accounting for an 11% growth rate in the province's num- ber of wineries, or the second-largest increase behind Oregon. East of the Rockies, Virginia boasted the highest number of new wineries (36), followed closely by Pennsylvania (32), which accounted for a 16% in- crease, the largest for a non-western U.S. state. New York is still home to the most eastern wineries (327), but it only saw a 6% increase in the number of new wineries. Value OF DTC shipmenTs $0 $200 $400 $600 $800 Napa Sonoma Rest of CA Rest of U.S. Oregon Washington $820,232,158 $312,109,345 $345,351,412 $90,470,023 $79,877,681 $59,513,186 $ Millions DTC shipmenTs aVerage BOTTle priCe $0 $20 $40 $60 $80 Cabernet Sauvignon Red Blends Pinot Noir All Varietals/ Types $42.06 $42.18 $37.58 $64.77 b e s t o f 2 0 1 4