Impact of the Pandemic on Wine Consumption and Winery Visitation Trends – Part 3

As with our last article, we are providing data collected between 21 and 28 March 2022, funded by the Pennsylvania Wine Marketing and Research Board (Project No. #239695), that segments participants into groups based on their responses to key questions.  While we provided an analysis based on consumption frequency ("high frequency" and "occasional" wine consumers), in this article, we explore responses based on how "loyal" our survey participants were to drinking wine.

Level of Loyalty to Wine

Survey participants answered five questions (Table 1), adapted from Calvo-Porral (2017), with responses for each question ranging from 1=strongly disagree to 7=strongly agree, resulting in a maximum of 35 points. 

Table 1. Questions asked to determine participant level of loyalty to wine

• Even if other alcoholic beverages have similar characteristics, I would prefer wine.
• Even if other alcoholic beverages had features that were similar to wine, I would prefer wine instead.
• It makes sense to buy wine instead of other alcoholic beverages available in the market.
• If I had to buy an alcoholic beverage, wine would be my first option.
• I consider myself loyal to wine.

Participants were then divided into quartiles (low, n= 291; medium, n=279; and high wine loyalty, n=206) based on the total for their responses and used to compare groups.  Due to some survey participants not responding to all five questions, only 776 of our 805 participants were included in further analysis. 

Generation Comparison

As shown in Figure 1, 45.1% of the combined Gen Z and Younger Millennial group were "low wine loyalty" consumers, along with 45.5% of Baby Boomers.  The percentage of "medium wine loyalty" consumers in each generation group ranged between 31.1%, for Baby Boomers, to 39.9%, for Gen Z participants.  "High wine loyalty" ranged from 22.2% for Gen Z and Younger Millennials to 32.5% for Older Millennials.

Figure 1. Segmentation of the four generational groups based on level of wine loyalty

Consumption Frequency Segmentation

As might be expected, more "high wine loyalty" participants, 84%, were "high frequency" wine consumers (i.e., consumed wine daily to a few times a week) compared to "occasional" wine consumers (i.e., consumed wine about once a week or less often), 16%. The reverse was true for "low wine loyalty" participants, as 67% were "occasional" wine consumers, and 33% were "high frequency" wine consumers. For "medium wine loyalty" participants, 60.2% were "high frequency" wine consumers, and 39.8% were "occasional" wine consumers.

Within the "high frequency" category, 27.7% of "high wine loyalty" participants consumed wine daily, which was significantly different from the percentage of "low" and "medium wine loyalty" participants who consumed wine at that frequency (3.4% and 11.1%, respectively) (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Wine consumption frequency segmented by level of wine loyalty^x

Change in Wine Consumption

Participants 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 loyalty, a greater percentage of "high" and "medium wine loyalty" participants (34.3% and 29.0%, respectively) increased their consumption due to the pandemic compared to "low wine loyalty" consumers (18.6%) (Figure 3). In addition,18.6% of "high" and 18.3% of "medium wine loyalty" participants increased their wine consumption due to a reason "other than the pandemic" compared to 9.0% of "low wine loyalty" participants. More "low wine loyalty" participants 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 than the "high" and "medium wine loyalty" participants.

Figure 3. Change in wine consumption based on wine consumption frequency^x

Mid-Atlantic Winery Visitation

The period when participants last visited a mid-Atlantic winery tasting room (only before mid-March 2020, only after mid-March 2020, and during both before and after mid-March 2020) did not differ among the three wine loyalty groups. As far as intent to visit winery tasting rooms in 2022/2023, 96.1% of "high" and 97.5% of "medium wine loyalty" participants indicated they were likely to do so, with slightly fewer, 87.6%, of "low wine loyalty" participants indicating that they would visit.

Of the 725 participants who would be likely to visit, more "high wine loyalty" participants (71.1%) would be interested in purchasing bottles of wine to consume off-premise, which was significantly more than both "medium" (64.3%) and "low wine loyalty" (62.7%) participants (Figure 3). There were no differences between level of wine loyalty for purchasing a glass or bottle of wine to consume on-premise, a wine tasting with samples poured one-by-one, or a wine flight with pre-poured samples.

Figure 4. Interest in wine purchases for those likely to visit a mid-Atlantic winery tasting room in 2022/2023 segmented by wine loyalty

Regarding activities that these participants would have an interest in participating in, more "high wine loyalty" participants were interested in attending an indoor event (42.4%) than the other two loyalty levels (Figure 5).  More "high wine loyalty" participants would be interested in attending a small group tour/tasting with strangers (39.9%) compared to "low wine loyalty participants" (25.9%). There were no differences between the three loyalty levels for interest in attending an outdoor event, dining in the winery tasting room, and participating in a small group tour/tasting with family and/or friends.

Figure 5. Interest in activities for those likely to visit a mid-Atlantic winery tasting room in 2022/2023 segmented by wine loyalty

Insights

Our survey results, based on five questions adapted from Calvo-Porral (2017) provide insights into wine loyalty among respondents and changes in wine consumption and winery visitation during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The segmentation of participants based on their level of wine loyalty revealed interesting differences in consumption frequency, with high wine loyalty participants consuming wine more frequently than those with low or medium loyalty levels. Additionally, a greater percentage of high and medium wine loyalty participants increased their wine consumption due to the pandemic compared to low wine loyalty consumers. Interestingly, the period when participants last visited a mid-Atlantic winery tasting room did not differ among the three wine loyalty groups. Overall, these findings highlight potential opportunities for wineries to target high wine loyalty consumers with indoor events, and small group tour/tastings.

Reference

Calvo-Porral, C., Orosa-González, J., & Blazquez-Lozano, F. (2018). A clustered-based segmentation of beer consumers: from "beer lovers" to "beer to fuddle". British Food Journal, 120(6), 1280-1294.