Recently, Chris Baker, president of Brassfield Estate Winery in Lake County, California, got a call from a major grocery. Their Pinot Gris is flying off the shelves- can you make more?
Jamie Rubin, the sommelier consultant at Southwark and Ambra, ran into a similar problem: He couldn't keep white wines on the list. 'In May, we basically stopped selling reds,' Rubin says.
Sauvignon Blanc sales are surging. New Zealand's exports of white wine grew 20% in the year ending June 2023. According to NIQ, while other wine sales remained stagnant or dropped, white table wines were the only category to see growth.
Baker thinks there's a few things at play driving the growth. Firstly, alcohol has been on the outs lately. With the WHO pushing anti-alcohol messaging, it's understandable that drinkers flinch at high-abv reds. 'Beverage alcohol has been under a microscope,' says Baker.
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