• Texas Tech adds degree program: The Lubbock university has added a degree specialization in viticulture and enology, plus classes offering everything from grape growing to wine production and retailing. Texas Tech is the first university in the state, and one of only a few in the country, with this kind of undergraduate program.
• Respect for older wine drinkers? Marketers who usually overlook everyone older than 35 are missing a bet with wine drinkers aged 50 and older, says the Datamonitor research firm. It noted that that an increasingly large "senior" population is worth targeting because they are willing to spend their money on products they perceive as value-added.
• Euros drinking less wine: The wine industry has for the first time recorded a worldwide decline in consumption and sales -- particularly in European countries that are traditionally the largest producers and consumers of wine, such as France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Great Britain. The British, for example, drank 1.8 percent less wine in 2008.
it's not scientific but I live in Italia and for sure I am drinking far less wine. I have not arrived to using tap water, but that thought entered my mind too (Italians are the largest consumers of bottled water in the world)... Folks are just cutting back on anything that they can cut back on and wine, though a culturally ingrained aspect of a meal here, is still something you can consume a bit less of, moreso at lunch than dinner folks are willing to forego a glass.
It's interesting to see how prices are affected. I remember pre Euro that a nice bottle of Inferno cost Lire 5.500 or about EUR 2, 75 and nowadays the same bottle goes for EUR 7,00 or so.... so prices have doubled and you're seeing now that there are often sales where a decent bottle of wine is going back to the EUR 3 to EUR 4 range.
Posted by: JP | April 15, 2009 at 01:14 AM
The convention wisdom for years has been that Europeans are drinking less wine, and especially younger Europeans, because we're corrupting them with soft drinks.
But I think JP's point is well taken and has been much overlooked. If it costs too much, you're not going to buy it, especially in a recession.
Posted by: Jeff Siegel | April 15, 2009 at 01:00 PM