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D A T A CENTER High-End Wines Had Great First Quarter Domestic wines hottest at $20-plus, imports at $15-$19 S an Rafael, Calif.—Sales of domes- tic table wines in premium price segments grew quickly during the first quarter of 2012 at major food and drug stores. Wines at $20-plus were the hottest, growing 24% in dollars over the same period in 2011, according to Symphony IRI. Domestic wines priced $15-$19.99 jumped 16%, and those at $11-$14.99 rose 9%. Imports own a much smaller share of the off-premise market than domes- tic wines—21% vs. 79%—but in the high-priced segments, imports grew at comparable rates during the first quarter. SIRI, a Chicago-based market-research Domestic Vs. Imported Sales Growth Rates in Premium Segments 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% Imported Domestic 17% 16% 12% 9% 24% 22% firm, reported that through March 18 the $15-$19.99 price point was the fastest growing for imports, at 22%. High-priced Cabernet up 28% Cabernet Sauvignon was the biggest selling red varietal wine in all three of the top price segments. The $20-plus category saw the fastest growth for the quarter at 28%. Chardonnay dominat- ed sales totals in the $11-$14.99 range but saw its fastest growth of 19% at $20-plus. Pinot Noir grew well in all three top brackets and led major varietals at $20- plus with 32% more sales than a year ago. It finished third behind Cabernet and Chardonnay in sales totals with nearly $6 million at the major U.S. food and drug stores where SIRI analyzes check stand scan data. The picture was not so bright in the largest price segment for both imports and domestics: $5-$7.99. This segment was nearly flat for domestic wines, with just 1% growth in the first quarter. Im- ports in this price range dropped in sales by 7%. The import category as a whole lost 1% in the first quarter. Smaller was better MALA_Dir11.qxp 11/29/10 4:07 PM Page 1 Another way to look at the sales situ- ation is by packaging format. While overall sales of domestic table wine grew at 7% in the four weeks ending March 18, the growth rate of domestic varietal table wine in 750ml packages was higher, at 9%. Varietal wine in 750ml bottles ac- counted for $245 million of the domes- tic category's total $371 million sales over four weeks. The next-largest pack- age type in dollars was varietal wine in 1.5-liter formats, with $59 million in sales and an essentially flat growth rate of 0.4%, which dragged down overall growth. —Jim Gordon $11-$14.99 $15-$19.99 Price Segment/ 750ml Change in dollar sales for table wines vs. first quarter 2011 at major U.S. food and drug stores Sales in Premium Segments $200 $189 $150 $100 $85 $50 $44 $0 $11-$14.99 $15 $15-$19.99 Price Segment/ 750ml Dollar sales for first quarter 2012 at major U.S. food and drug stores Wines & Vines MAY 2012 13 $48 $10 $20-Plus Imported Domestic $20-Plus $ Millions