WASHINGTON, D.C. 09/11/2023 - As we move through 2023 summer data, depletions for both wine and spirits remain challenged, but the declines are moderating.
Over the latest 12-month period (August 2022-July 2023) spirits dropped -1.4% and wine declined -5.6%. Looking at the latest 7-month period (January – July 2023) results, declines dropped further with spirits and wine declining -4.4% and -7.0%, respectively. In the last 12- and 7-month period, total spirits and wine declined -3.6% and -5.7%, correspondingly.
However in July we’ve seen these negative trends soften somewhat as the latest 3-month data ending July is -3.8% for spirits compared to -4.8% in June and wine improving from -7.8% in June to -6.5% ending July.
The on-premise continued to post results in the black and July saw the first uptick of growth in over a year. Spirits grew 5.8% in July, up from 5.4% in June, while wine grew 0.5% in the latest period, up from 0.3% from June. Among the ten largest product classes for spirits the only one that had growth slow in the on-premise during July was Cocktails, although it remained a key driver of industry volume still gaining +52.6%. Of the nine product classes within SipSource for wine, Table Wine – Pink and Specialty/Dessert/Fortified were the only two that tracked slower growth, while the drivers of the growth in on-premise wine continued to be Table Wine – White and Champagne/Sparkling.
The off-Premise remains challenging for both wine and spirits in the latest SipSource data. Spirits off-premise continued to lose ground in July, a 290-basis point drop over the last year. The last time this segment of the market posted a positive result was in December of 2022 and has declined incrementally every month of 2023. Within spirits the two main classes that posted positive results were Cocktail – Spirits (+12.0%) and Tequila/Agave (+2.2%). The trend for off-premise wine has been more favorable gaining 260 basis points over the last year and posting moderating declines over the last four months. Of the nine product classes for off-premise wine in SipSource, seven of them trended more positively in July with the outliers being Cocktails – Wine and Sake.
Looking forward, as we move forward through the rest of 2023 the comps for spirits in August are difficult, but the subsequent three-month period is softer. The path for growth within wine is clearer for the remainder of the year as we look for incremental improvement at the lower end price tiers with bigger swings for the high end as the holidays encourage special occasion purchasing behaviors. Additional factors that point to moderating industry results are a shrinking inflation rate, although it still will have an impact on more limited consumer spending, coupled with the strength in the on-premise – both good signs as we move through the remainder of the summer travel season.