Impact of the Pandemic on Wine Consumption and Winery Visitation Trends – Part 2

With this, the second article that describes research outcomes from our 2022 consumer survey, funded by the Pennsylvania Wine Marketing and Research Board (Project No. #239695), we will focus on how our survey participant responses differed based on consumption frequency.

As a reminder, 805 consumers who drank wine at least once during the previous month and purchased wine at least once within the last three months participated in the internet survey between 21 and 28 March 2022. Click on the link to read the first article.

Consumption Frequency Segmentation

A common way to describe a wine consumer's consumption frequency is to categorize them as either a "high frequency" (i.e., consumes wine more than once a week) or an "occasional" wine consumer (i.e., consumes wine about once a week or less frequently). In our study, and partly due to screening for those who drank wine at least once within the previous month, slightly more than half (56%) of our participants were "high frequency" consumers, and of these participants, 101 (12.5% of the total participants) consumed wine daily (Table 1).

^a High frequency consumers drink wine more than once a week; occasional consumers drink wine about once a week or less frequently.

Generation Comparison

While Gen Z, who could legally consume alcohol in 2022, ranged between ages 21 and 25, we only obtained data from 12 members of this generation, all aged 25. These responses were combined with Younger Millennials (participants between age 26 and 33 years), resulting in a category with 18.5% of participants (Figure 1). Older millennials, who were between age 34 and 41 at the time of the study, accounted for 32.7% of participants, while 27.3% of participants were members of Gen X and 21.5% were Baby Boomers. 

Figure 1. Survey Participant generation and age range.

Based on their wine consumption, a greater percentage of Older Millennials were "high frequency" wine consumers than "occasional" consumers. At the same time, an equal percentage of Gen Z/Younger Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers were "high frequency" and "occasional" wine consumers. 

Change in Wine Consumption

Participants (n=802) responded to a question about how their wine consumption had changed compared to the period before mid-March 2020 when the COVID-19 Pandemic shelter-in-place order was enacted. When segmented based on consumption, a greater percentage of "high frequency" wine consumers (33.5%) increased their consumption due to the pandemic compared to "occasional" consumers (17.7%) (Figure 2). In addition,19.3% of "high frequency" wine consumers increased their wine consumption due to a reason "other than the pandemic" compared to 10.4% of "occasional" wine consumers. More "occasional" wine consumers a) decreased their wine consumption due to the pandemic, b) decreased their consumption due to another reason, or c) did not change their consumption compared to the period before mid-March 2020.

Figure 2. Change in wine consumption based on wine consumption frequency^x

^xColumns (e.g., more often because of the pandemic) with different letters indicate statistically significant differences (p<0.05)

Mid-Atlantic Winery Visitation

The period when participants last visited a mid-Atlantic winery tasting room also differed between "high frequency" and "occasional" wine consumers. A greater percentage of "high frequency" participants visited tasting rooms both before and after mid-March 2020 (33.8%) compared to "occasional" wine consumers (21.2%), while a greater percentage (60.9%) of "occasional" wine consumers visited only during the period before mid-March 2020.

Figure 3. Mid-Atlantic winery tasting room visitation based on wine consumption frequency^x

^xColumns (e.g., more often because of the pandemic) with different letters indicate statistically significant differences (p<0.05)

Participants were asked about their intent to visit winery tasting rooms in 2022/2023. For participants who had visited a mid-Atlantic winery tasting room between mid-March 2020 and when they completed the survey in mid-March 2022 (n=283), 169 being "high frequency" and 114 being "occasional" wine consumers, all but 4% (n=10), indicated they were likely to visit within the next 12 months.

The following highlights the types of items these 273 participants, segmented by their wine consumption frequency) would purchase and the activities they would participate in at a mid-Atlantic winery tasting room on their next visit. A majority of both "high frequency" and "occasional" wine consumers were interested in purchasing bottles of wine to consume off-premise (78.9% and 74.8%, respectively) (Figure 4). Other activities that at least half of both groups were interested in include: attending an outdoor event, purchasing a glass or bottle of wine to consume on-premise, and wine tasting (with samples poured one-by-one). There were no statistical differences in responses between "high frequency" and "occasional" wine consumers for all comparisons. 

Figure 4. Purchases and activities that appeal to those likely to visit a mid-Atlantic winery tasting room in 2022/2023, segmented by wine consumption frequency

Insights

In this study, we categorized survey respondents as either "high frequency" or "occasional" based on their consumption frequency. Results showed that slightly over half of participants were "high frequency" consumers, with 12.5% consuming wine daily. While older millennials had a higher percentage of "high frequency" wine consumers compared to other generations, equal percentages of other generations were both "high frequency" and "occasional" wine consumers.

The study also found that "high frequency" consumers were more likely to increase their wine consumption during the pandemic compared to "occasional" consumers. A greater percentage of "high frequency" participants visited mid-Atlantic winery tasting rooms both before and after the pandemic, while more "occasional" wine consumers only visited before the pandemic. Participants expressed interest in purchasing bottles of wine to consume off-premise, attending outdoor events, purchasing a glass or bottle of wine to consume on-premise, and wine tasting on their next winery visit. Future articles will discuss differences in response to survey questions based on consumers' loyalty to wine consumption.