Wine and Race: Where’s the Info?

Posted by Wine Welfare | Filed under Wine and the World

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At the risk of bringing hate mail to my website, I am going to posit a theory on wine consumption in the United States:

Caucasian people drink more wine than any other racial demographic in the United States.

And, like any obsessive oenophile, I will now ask a question based on that theory:

Why?

In an effort to find an answer to this question, I’ve searched online, in a number of libraries (including my old university library), at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (atf.gov), U.S. Government Consumer Trends, and a number of wine research sites. Now, most of the reports I could have accessed were going to cost upwards of $1000, so I wasn’t about to do that (I’m not Bill Gates, here), which means that the research may be out there. However, as far as I can tell, there have not been too many studies done on racial demographics and wine consumption.

This is partly the reason for this post. By the way, here’s a call out to readers to let us know somewhere we can find this information.

I have been lucky enough to visit California wine countries in Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez and surrounding areas, Central Coast, Monterey, Napa Valley and even Temecula. I’ve been visiting these appellations for nearly 9 years. In that time (IN MY MEAGER WINE COUNTRY EXPERIENCES) I have yet to see a race other than Caucasian drinking wine in any of the local establishments, much less visiting a winery while I’m there.

I want everyone to understand that I realize my experiences within my world is extremely, extremely limited, but at the same time, I do not feel that my experiences are uncommon.

This is as far as I was able to get when it came to (free) demographic wine consumption info:

Total table wine consumption in the U.S.:

  • 1995: 164 million cases
  • 2004: 243 million cases

Total U.S. adult per capita table wine consumption vs. population growth:

  • 1970: 134 million adults, 1.05 gallons per adult
  • 2004: 209 million adults, 2.77 gallons per adult

Change in frequency of wine consumption, core wine drinkers:

  • 1994: 3%
  • 2005: 30%

Change in frequency of wine consumption, marginal wine drinkers:

  • 1994: -13%
  • 2005: 6%

Net percent drinking more wine by generation:

  • Millenials: 39%
  • Gen X’ers: 30%
  • Boomers: 8%

I am not a wealthy man. When I go to taste wine, I try my best to either taste for free or spend no more than $10. I always drive, never fly. I am only able to go for weekends because I work two jobs. I do not eat at fancy places (average dinner check for myself and the wife under $50, including corkage), I stay at Motel 6s, Quality Inns or, when I want to splurge, a Best Western with the AAA discount (and I get Best Western points). The point is, I travel as cheap as possible, though it is for wine tasting.

So, do we think the reason has to do with economic factors? I understand the greater financial ramifications when it comes to looking at racial wine drinking demographics. However, many of my friends are not Caucasian. I have Caucasian friends, African American friends, Hispanic friends and Asian friends. Whenever we have them over, we offer a variety of drinks: hard booze, beer and red and white wine. But invariably, my wife and I and our Caucasian friends are the only ones sniffing, swirling and drinking the vino. Not to mention, I have known plenty of people, some friends,who barely have a penny to their name, yet the places I most often met with them was at bars.

How about regional or environmental factors? The regions in the world that allow alcohol consumption obviously have their own cultural beverages, or at least certain types of alcohol that they are proud to call their own. But wine and beer seem to run the gamut, wine particularly. Europe, North America, South America, Australia, Africa, even Asia. People are raised among families that stick to certain types of drinks, but I would venture to guess that wine shows up at some point.

So what do you think? Agree? Disagree? What’s your reason? What has been your experience when it comes to demographics and wine drinking? Let us know in the comments!

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Comments (1) | April 12th, 2010

One Response to “Wine and Race: Where’s the Info?”

  1. Wine and Race: Where's the Info? | Wine Welfare | The Bottle and Cork - Napa and Sonoma Wine blog Says:
    April 12, 2010 at 2:11 pm

    [...] when it comes to looking at racial wine drinking demographics … See original here: Wine and Race: Where's the Info? | Wine Welfare [...]

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