We ran across an article recently in the Wall Street Journal by Will Lyons and thought the readers of Food World might find it of some interest. “A new industry report has revealed how much wine is being produced each year – and who is drinking it.” Figures from the International Wine & Spirit Research, a London- based drinks research group, estimates that 3.2 billion cases of wine were produced in 2013 or 38.4 billion bottles—54 percent red wine, 37 percent white and 9 percent for rose. And most of it is drunk in the United States and Europe, not France.
According to the International Wine & Spirit Research (IWSR), the United States is still the biggest market by volume, drinking a total of 339 million cases of wine in 2013, followed by France’s 296 million. Italy followed with 288 million, Germany with 274 and China with 144 million. The United Kingdom was sixth, drinking a total of 133 million cases.
Per capita wine consumption shows a different picture. Italy is the leader with France, Switzerland, Portugal and Austria not far behind.
The countries that spend the most on wine are the United States, France and the United Kingdom. The International Wine & Spirit Research predicts that by 2018, the top still-wine markets by value, the U.S. with $33.2 billion and the United Kingdom with $17.1 billion.
Sparkling-wine consumption was led by the Germans, who drank 46 million cases in 2014, followed France at 30 million, and Russia, which consumed 26 million cases. The U.S. was fourth with 18 million cases, and the United Kingdom consumed 11 million cases.
With the Northeast in the midst of an extremely cold winter, here’s an interesting article by Janet Forgrieve of The Sip we picked up on the internet on the subject of drinking habits during colder weather. “Cocktail fans (of which I’m one) turn to hot toddies; Tipplers sip warm brown whiskeys, and wine drinkers put away the rose in favor of something deep and red to keep the winter chill at bay. It may be Meyer lemon season and time for light aperitifs on the West Coast, but in colder climates cocktail fans seek out beverages to warm up inside and out.”
“They’re going for a lot of the same things that they’ve been going for, for a while, a lot of bourbon and whiskey, but they’re getting a lot more creative this winter,” said Adrian Watson, owner of mobile bar tending service VIP Mixologists, based in New York City.
The long lines outside New York City’s supermarkets during the recent snow events didn’t tell the whole story. In fact, Manhattanites were stocking the bar as well as the fridge. As dire warnings about the blizzard of the century filled the Manhattan airwaves recently, residents turned to local liquor stores to stock up on their favorite warming wines and spirits. While plenty of customers were opting for their standard vodka (my personal favorite), many others were opting for whiskies and other brown spirits that are traditional for warming the winter season, as well as red wines, according to Watson. And there was definitely a generation gap – millennials were choosing vodkas, while baby boomers were more likely to stock up on whiskey and wine.
Men and women are different, certainly, when it comes to what they put in their grocery shopping carts. While women’s carts tend to be packed with produce, snacks and sweets, men’s baskets tend to contain more meat and booze according to the new Food Shopping in America study by Krystal Steinmetz
(Hartman-group.com), conducted by The Hartman Group and food and nutrition marketing agency MSLGROUP. The study revealed that men are doing more grocery shopping than before. In fact, men now make up 43 percent of primary shoppers.
On average, Americans do some type of grocery shopping three times a week, whether online or at convenience stores, mass merchandise or grocery stores, or other venues. The study revealed that men and women are doing the same amount of grocery shopping, which is a marked change from past years.
Men and women grocery shop in different ways. While many women browse, “men prefer to simply ‘search and retrieve’ the few items they need,” the study said.
Many food brands are now taking note of the male shopper, who has been mostly ignored in the past.
According to The Washington Post, some brands are introducing new flavors that they hope will appeal to the male taste buds.
The National Grocers Association (NGA) announced a new alliance with The Coca-Cola Co. and RetailNet Group (RNG) to provide a customized retail marketplace intelligence platform exclusively for National Grocers Association (NGA) independent retail and wholesale member companies.
Coca-Cola’s support will enable NGA retail and wholesale members to gain complementary access to RNG’s valuable retail insights starting March 1 of this year.
Here’s an interesting story from the Richmond Times-Dispatch about Kroger getting into the growler business. Kroger’s Short Pump store is the first of the chain’s Richmond-area stores to add a station for draft beer sales. (Growlers are reusable glass or metal containers of beer—usually 32 or 64 ounces.) The refillable jugs have become a favorite among the craft beer crowd.
The only other Kroger stores in Virginia to get growler stations so far are the larger Marketplace-format stores in Suffolk and Portsmouth. The response has been enthusiastic, so much so that the grocery chain is looking at other stores to add the stations. It’s a way to feature local beers made in limited quantities. Short Pump Kroger’s growler station has eight taps offering a mix of local, regional and national brews.
Here’s an interesting story out of Maine. Exports of U.S. lobster to China have skyrocketed in the past few years, largely to satisfy the appetites of the communist country’s growing middle class, to whom a steamed whole lobster – flown in live from the United States – is not just a festive delicacy and a good-luck symbol but also a mark of prosperity. New England lobster fishermen have been recording epic catches in recent years and are grateful for the business from the world’s second-largest economy. Maine, which accounts for more than 80 percent of all U.S. lobster, hauled in more than 250 million pounds in 2012-13, the highest two-year total in the record books which go back to the 1800s.
Congratulations to Acosta’s Nick Matook, who will be honored as The Massachusetts Food Association Person of the Year at its Family Convention this month.
Our sympathies go out to the family of William “Bill” Thompson III, a partner in the former Baltimore food brokerage firm W.H. Bryan Company. Bill passed away last month at the age of 83. When Jeff and I first came to the Baltimore market after buying Food World in 1978, Bill and W.H. Bryan Co. were big supporters of ours. Bill is survived by his children William E. Thompson IV, Diane T. Knipp, Robert C. Thompson, Hilary T. Harrington and the late J. Scott Thompson, as well as 15 grandchildren and two great grandchildren. The family has said that memorial contributions in Bill’s memory may be made to Ascension Lutheran Church, 7601 York Road, Towson, MD 21204; or The Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation at 230 East Ohio Street, Suite 304, Chicago, IL 60611-3201 or www.pulmonaryfibrosis.org.
Michele Ferrero, the founder and patriarch of the Italian Nutella and Ferrero Rocher empire, died last month on Valentine’s Day. He was 89, the company said in a statement. Multiple European news outlets said that for months he had been battling illness.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella called Ferrero “entrepreneur bred” and praised his “innovative products” and “hard work.”He was “the richest candyman on the planet,” according to Forbes, which put his wealth at $23.4 billion.
Ferrero’s father, Pietro, turned the family pastry shop into a production facility back in the 1940s. Because of World War II, chocolate was rationed, so he mixed in hazelnuts to produce more product. The spread now known as Nutella was once six times less expensive than chocolate, according to the company.
The company soon became known for its distinctive products like the namesake confections wrapped in gold foil. It now produces tons upon tons of Nutella—every year, an amount that weighs as much as the Empire State Building.
Ferrero products came to the United States in 1969. The first arrival was the Tic Tac mint. The company also produces Kinder chocolates. The company is family-owned and run by Ferrero’s son Giovanni.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all our readers. Kathy and I will be celebrating at our local watering hole, Clyde’s of Columbia, on March 17! Join us if you’re in the area.