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Who drinks wine?

Wine Intelligence's research* examined who buys wine in the U.S. today. Their US Portraits 2018 report claims the U.S. wine market is the “most populous wine market” on the planet with 84 million regular wine drinkers. That's more than one-third of all adults (35%).

According to the report, U.S. wine consumption is segmented into six general consumer segments:

Engaged Explorers (10%): One of the younger segments (typically age 25-44), they are the most frequent wine drinkers and the highest spenders, buying from a broad repertoire of wine styles, countries and regions. The most experimental group, they are actively seeking opportunities to build wine experiences.

Premium Brand Suburbans (19%): Mid to older aged, they are frequent wine drinkers, yet amongst the lowest spenders per bottle, sticking to the wines and brands they know. Their category experience leads them to have the highest wine knowledge of all segments.

Contented Treaters (17%): Mid and older affluent drinkers who are high spenders on wine, yet enjoy wine relatively infrequently. Knowledgeable and involved, who enjoy a broad range of wine types and styles and are often influenced by a wine's origin.

Social Newbies (14%): The youngest wine drinking segment with 2/3rd under age 35, they drink wine on average twice a week, are mid spenders, with wine not yet fully integrated into their lifestyle. They have limited wine category knowledge yet and rely heavily on recommendations when it comes to buying wine.

Senior Bargain Hunters (26%): The least frequent and one of the oldest wine drinking segments. Time in the category has led to relatively strong wine knowledge, however they still purchase from a narrow repertoire of wine styles and brands, being strongly value driven.

Kitchen Casuals (14%): One of the oldest segments, they are infrequent wine drinkers, with very few consuming wine in the on-premise. They show a limited interest in the wine category, sticking to the narrow range of wines they know.

*Quantitative data was collected online in October 2017, January 2018 and March 2018 from 12,632 (49% male/51% female) people who consume wine at least once a month on and off premise.

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