California Wines Featured Most on U.S. Restaurant Wine Lists
A study was recently released indicating that California wines are more likely to be featured on American restaurant wine lists. The study surveyed restaurants in major markets around the country in the $39 or less category.
Conducted by Winemetrics, the “On-Premise Wine Distribution Report” was intended to rank America’s top 100 wine brands based on the frequency of their appearance on wine lists. Winemetrics is a relative new research firm that provides consulting for on-premise sales.
The wines that topped the list were mainly from corporate owned brands like; Beringer, Kendall-Jackson, Beaulieu Vineyard and Chateau St Michelle. This is not a surprise, considering that these are large scale producers with recognizable brands. But there were also smaller producers like Caymus Vineyards, Cakebread Cellars and Sterling Vineyards.
The overwhelming majority of wines on the top 100 list are make from U.S. producers, with most of these coming from California. There were also 15 wines from France and seven from Italy. If the price category moved up to the $69 – $100 range, I was suspect that there would be more wines from France.
The study indicated the wines most often ordered in restaurants sell between $25 and $39 per bottle. It also turns out that red wines outnumber whites two to one, with Cabernet Sauvignon taking the top spot.
With any study, the numbers should be taken at face value. There is no such thing as a perfect study, but they definitely give a good indication for what is going on. But this seems like a pretty legitimate study; they surveyed 10,500 restaurants in 20 states, and 24 of the 30 top markets.
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