USA: The Wine Club’s `2000 Survey’ Spotlights Buying Habits of California’s Top Wine Consumers

The Wine Club's annual survey of its customers shows interesting insights into the wine buying habits of `passionate' wine lovers. The Gomberg, Fredrikson & Associates report notes that 83% of The Wine Club's customers characterize themselves as wine enthusiasts and wine lovers who know a lot about the wine they are purchasing. The median dollar amount of their wine purchases is $2,000 a year in retail stores and an additional $500 in wine purchases at restaurants, just about the same as the 1999 survey results. In terms of enjoyment, 59% of those surveyed enjoy wine 5 days a week; 28% of respondents drink wine every day. This year, the percentage of women responding went up slightly to 20%. Each year, this percentage has gone up about 3% a year. In terms of age, 86% are age 40 or above, with 65% reporting income of over $100,000 per year. In terms of case sales, 44% purchase from 6-15 cases of wine a year; 40% purchase between 16 and 50 cases of wine a year and 3% buy over 50 cases. With this amount of wine buying, where to put this wine becomes an important factor. 72% of respondents have wine cellars of over 100 bottles; 15% of The Wine Club customers have cellars over 1000 bottles. 89% of wine buyers state that they purchase wines for their cellars, well in advance of consuming wine. In terms of consumption, 8% of respondents say they are drinking less wine than a couple of years ago; 64% say they are drinking the same and 28% say they are drinking more wine. This is much the same as last year's numbers. Wine purchases are spread over a wide variety of sources. In addition to purchases at The Wine Club, 69% also purchase wines from wineries; 39% from supermarkets, 33% from other club stores, and 10% from internet sales -- double from last year's survey