Liquor shoppers in Australia and around the world have embraced cask wine as they seek value and convenience during COVID-19.
Nick Waterman, president of the South Australian Wine Industry Association, told InDaily: “One two-litre cask product – Winesmiths – saw a huge spike in sales in the short term. It was thought that was just something because of lockdown, but it’s continued.”
He said the altered shopper behaviour means premium wine sales have taken a hit.
“In May, premium wine sales just fell off a cliff,” he noted. “Where the real pain is going to be is in the premium end, from $20 a bottle up.”
Riverland winemaker Con-Greg Grigoriou revealed to City Mag that his label, Delinquente, has decided to release a cask wine range under the Higher Crimes banner.
“Alternative packaging is something that is gaining momentum now,” he said.
“It’s a weird time to be releasing it now with the virus, but I think it’s probably adequate considering people are at home more.
“People don’t want to open a bottle every night and worry about finishing it, and you can just have a glass and the wine is going to be just as fresh the next day and for the next week or two compared to when you open it. It suits our situation.”
Shoppers around the globe embrace cask wine
In the US, Nielsen found “enormous” growth in three-litre cask wine sales, with sales up 82% in mid-April.
In Canada, The Liquor Control Board of Ontario, Canada, reported that boxed wines were up 77% in March 2020 versus 2019 (that equates to 47,000 more boxes sold in a month).
Even France has seen a 43% increase in goon sales during lockdown, according to Nielsen data.
Eric Lanxade, sales director for bulk wine producer Caves et Vignobles du Gers in South-West France, told Vitisphere that COVID-19 “will cause a sea-change in people’s spontaneity towards others and sharing a glass of wine”.
He noted that “a bottle goes from one table to the next, from one hand to another and could be a vector of the virus” but a big box of wine would solve that problem.
