Some AC Nielsen statistics referenced in Tomas Clancy’s Sunday Business Post column back in July

• Sales of wine in the €8-€10 category, one of the most important segments of the market, are up 3% from this time last year.
• Wine sales for the €10-€15 category, (25% of the Irish market), are up by 6.8% on last year’s figures
• Sales in the under €6 category have dropped by 12%.

Now, this data doesn’t really give the full picture. Overall, sales are down.

Some unanswered questions:

• Are punters treating themselves? Instead of eating are they cooking at home with a bottle or two?
• Are punters dropping down from higher priced categories It would appear so. According to the Wine Board stats,  2008 sales of table wine are down 2.5% from 2007. All wine down 3.9% (yet DIGI say it was down 4.1%. Let’s split the difference).
• Has the increased excise (now €2.46 per bottle) forced punters to follow their brand up to the next price bracket?

And of course, then there’s Decanter’s more up to date reporting which highlighted the bleak economic picture:

• Wine sales down by more than 10.6% during the first quarter of 2009 (according to the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland, DIGI)

With this doom and gloom, I need a drink. Water anyone?