Table Wine Consumption 2011

The chart below represents table wine sales by brand in the US.  Cupcake was deemed the Number 1 in the US for the second year in a row.  It is amazing to see a few things:

1) That Cupcake is such a high volume and widely marketed table wine and is really pretty good quality/value.  See our previous comments on the Cab here and the Merlot here.

2)  The consolidation in that spectrum of the US Market (see E&J Gallo and Ste. Michelle Wines).

3) We have tried a significant portion of that list (21 out of 30 by our count).

It seems that there is definitely a marketplace around these high volume wines that we as consumers are not aware of.  When you think about it how is it they are able to produce enough volume to cover the entire spectrum of Grocery Chains, Drug Stores, Liquor Stores in the US and still have volume for shelf space in Joggins, NS or Paradise, NL.  That friends is a s#!tload of wine.  When you think of the snoot factor, you could see how someone might look down there nose at these 'brands' but having a good product at a good price is a key piece of things.  Does it taste good or not and in the case of Cupcake and a number of others on this list the answer is absolutely yes.  Will drinking them be a spiritual experience?  Well, it depends on the circumstance, occasion, and your attitude towards the wine.  For some the answer will be yes, it could be transcendent, and for others it might not pass the mustard.  Bottom line, there is a reason why Cupcake sold that much wine last year and will continue to do so.


Anybody have all of these?  That would be cool!

Keep on drinking!

Chris & Shannon

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